Metal Gear Solid Digistyle COMPLETE
by the7joker7
Summary: The saga begun by Snake Eater continues, many years into the future. The special forces group FOXHOUND has gone rogue, taking over a nuclear weapons disposal facility. Who will come to save the day? Time may pass, but some things won't ever change. Well,
1. Chapter 1

Metal Gear Solid Digistyle

Summary: The saga begun by Snake Eater continues, many years into the future. The special forces group FOXHOUND has gone rogue, taking over a nuclear weapons disposal facility. Who will come to save the day? Time may pass, but some things won't ever change. Well, almost.

--------------------------------------------------------

Alright, this is a continuation of the Snake Eater/Digimon crossover I've already done. If you haven't, you'll probably want to read it, so go find it. It's called Snake Eater Digistyle. As you probably guessed, this is a crossover of Metal Gear Solid 1 with Digimon. I intend to hug close to the story of MGS, but may break away from it here and there. Just go with the flow. And please review after reading, I'm more likely to finish this if I get reviews.

So, enjoy!

--------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: A timeline

Snake Eater was but a part of a trilogy. The first part in a three part story. The story is far from over. Now, the second part of this story takes place 41 years after the first. Obviously, many important things happened during these 41 years, so let's gloss over them, so you get a feel for where we are.

We left off in 2017. Takeru Takaishi had just saved the digital world from a nuclear war that may would have killed millions, and possibly led to the end of the world as we knew it. TK came out of the situation a hero, and went on to living legend status as a soldier. Tai's FOX unit was officially recognized by the Server government shortly after. The part of the legacy Ken collected in service to Server allowed the Wisemen to be rebuilt into a respectable organization.

Not long after this, Gagarin was ousted from power in Buffet, and Brezhnev took over. The cold war continued for some time even with this change in leadership. File Island caught up with the rest of the world in technology, even though they never saw a cent of the legacy, within the next few months.

In 2018, Izzy Izumi was contracted by Server to look into the possibility of creating what could best be described as a walking battle tank. Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin, a weapons scientist in Buffet, had been developing the design for some time, and his work fell into the hands of Server. Izzy began trying to actually build the weapon, which he gave the early name "Metal Gear".

In 2021, Kari disappeared in Udeze without a trace, and was never seen again. Perhaps dead, perhaps on a mission, perhaps she merely went undercover and became someone else. Perhaps we'll never know.

2023 saw Mimi mass produce her medical suit that TK used in part one, with spectacular healing properties, and made it avalible to the public. However, her role in our story ends now. Technology she developed will be used, in all likelyhood, but directly her role ends.

This same year, Tai suddenly disbanded FOX and disappeared. Probably into quiet retirement. FOX had been having great success, TK at the helm, so it was suprisingly and disappointing to many. No one ever really found out why.

Also, in this year, Server got their hands on the second half of the legacy, and grew into the dominant world power. The Server branch of the 'Wisemen' changed their name to the 'Patriots' upon this.

In 2024, TK decided to carry on the tradition of FOX and established FOXHOUND. A similar unit in terms of purpose, with TK himself at the helm. He continued field work, but also commanded the unit. His first mission was actually to deal with the view remaining FOX members left, who were starting a revolt. Over the years, FOXHOUND assembled quite the group of people with some...special talents. Among them, Ken Ichijouji.

Then, we take a big jump forward, to 2048. A small, but well-armed and protected, nation is developed in the middle of the continent of Vilma, calling itself 'Outer Heaven'. A new nuclear weapon is being developed within it. FOXHOUND is asked to take care of it.

TK immediately sent in his best agent, which was no longer himself thanks to age. Even the greatest soldier of all time found himself diminished at the age of 57. The man he sent in is a rather mysterious figure. A very good agent who was...well, let's say a bit of a modern day ninja. We don't know his actual name, just his code name. Grey Fox.

In any case, Grey Fox was captured on his attempt to infiltrate Outer Heaven, his last message back to base being 'Metal Gear'. TK would have one last chance to take care of this situation, before a nuclear armageddon would be unleashed on the digital world. It was expected he would send himself in. But he did something nobody expected.

He sent in a rookie, 23 year old, inexperienced agent. He had only joined FOXHOUND the year before, and had never taken on a mission anywhere close to this level of magnitude. He seemed doom to certain failure. Now, this agent is too a rather mysterious figure. We don't know much about his past, or even his name. Just the codename he used, Solid Snake.

But this agent proved to be a tough one. He rescued Grey Fox and a Dr. Pettrovich. Pettrovich had worked with Izzy on the Metal Gear projects many years ago, and was being forced by the leader of Outer Heaven to develop an actual model of it. The Metal Gear TX-55.

Solid Snake then found this Metal Gear model, and fought it. Not by himself, of course, he had himself a partner, to suggest a human can take on a Metal Gear one on one is indeed laughable. His partner, none other than a Patamon, fought and defeated the Metal Gear. They made to escape, but encountered the last person they expected to encounter on the way out. The leader of Outer Heaven. None other than Takeru Takaishi.

Now that i've revealed that interesting twist, let's take a step back in our timeline. After establishing FOXHOUND, TK began secretly working as a mercenary as well. Over time, he developed the connections with mercenaries all over the world to develop his own nation. And in 2041, he did, Outer Heaven. And then in 2043, he kidnapped Pettrovich and forced him to develop a Metal Gear. He wanted to achieve military superiority over the entire world, and needed a powerful trump card to ensure it. Metal Gear was this trump card. He had captured Gray Fox right after sending him in, then sent in the inexperienced Solid Snake, assuming he would certainly fail, and possibly even leak back false information to Server.

And so, TK and Snake fought, a battle free of idealogy and politics, as the countdown to Outer Heaven's self-destruction ticked down. Snake defeated TK, a shock regardless of age, and left him to burn in the explosion of Outer Heaven. And that's not all. His Patamon trumped TK's, which seemed even more unlikely than Snake beating TK. As soon as these events concluded, Snake retired from FOXHOUND and retreated to a artic island north of Server, Damon. Roy Campbell became the new commander of FOXHOUND.

But TK lived. And he wasn't done. In 2050, he established a military regime in the middle of Ramirez, which declared indepedence from the country and named itself 'Zanzibar Land'. This time, Gray Fox was with him, and Pettrovich voluntarily began construction of a second metal gear. Metal Gear D.

In 2052, the digital world was in the middle of an energy crisis, concerning supplies of petroleum. A Dr. Kio Marv invented OILIX, which could convert petroleum to a highly purified form of itself. It would certainly solve the crisis. But just as the whole world turned it's attention to this, Dr. Marv was kidnapped. It was soon discovered that he had been taken inside Zanzibar Land, which was heavily protected and fortified.

On top of OILIX, Zanzibar Land was rumored to contain Nuclear Weapons, which ended up being the new version of the Metal Gear. Zanzibar Land was attempting to establish economic and military superiority over the entire world. FOXHOUND was called into action to handle this, and Roy Campbell tracked down none other than Solid Snake. His mission was to save Dr. Marv and retrieve OILIX. He agreed to come out of retirement for this one mission.

He successfully infiltrated Zanzibar Land and came across Dr. Pettrovich. He pretended to have been forced to work on Metal Gear D by Zanzibar Land, though he was truthful when shocking Snake by telling him the man at the head of all of this was TK.

Further in the fortress, Snake ran into Gray Fox, controlling the new Metal Gear model. He could have killed him rather easily right then, but instead yelled "Hey Snake, we're good buddies. I can let you go. Just leave at once and never come back." And then he left him. But Snake was not a man to let such a thing rattle him. He continued.

Snake found Dr. Marv dead, and learned from Campbell that Pettrovich had been working on the Metal Gear of his own free will. Upon learning this, he killed Pettrovich, and then obtained the structual plan of OILIX.

Trying to escape, Metal Gear D confronted him, controlled by Gray Fox. Together with his Patamon, Snake destroyed the walking tank, but Gray Fox survived the destruction of it. They fought hand to hand, without weapons, in a minefield. A fight that had no hatred or murderous intent. During that moment of purity the 2 were bound by forces transcending words and emotions.

Snake won, but still had one more battle to fight. As he tried to escape, he encountered TK, and they would fight for the final time.

But before they fought, TK revealed that he was Snake's father. Now, that isn't entirely true, but TK never lived to tell Snake the whole story. But it's close. He revealed that his Patamon was also the father of Snake's Patamon. This explained how they were capable of so much. It was in their blood, their genes.

He also explained, as he monologued before the final fight, why. Why he had done everything he had done, just as Sora had done for him before her final fight. Sora's fate 45 years ago changed TK forever. He vowed never to lead his life like Sora, having eternal loyalty to a country regardless of corruption or changing ideals. He would follow his ideals, not those of Server. And he explained those ideals.

TK is a soldier first, before anything else. That's all he could remember being, for the most part, and all he thought he could ever be. He looked around one day, and saw a world where soldiers like himself were a dying breed, no longer needed. He had done all that he had done to create a world rife with war and conflict, so people like him would always have a place.

"One who has experienced the tension of battle can never leave the battlefield. I'm the one giving you something to live for, and that is war." He told his son. Snake might have understood, and even joined with TK had he fully understood what he meant. After all, Snake was so much like TK, it is doubtful TK's mother could tell the difference. Down to his very blood and genes, Snake was destined to be a soldier. But he was still young, still not fully understanding this, still not understanding his ultimate destiny. He knew only the mission, of loyalty to his country. During the battle, TK mocked Snake, promising him that his future would hold nothing but endless fighting, for he was a soldier down to his very DNA.

Snake ultimately burned TK to death, having no weapons, burning TK to death with a makeshift flamethrower. There would be no mistakes this time, Snake watched TK's body burn to a crisp. Snake's Patamon also saw to it that TK's Patamon wouldn't walk away from this. Both their remains would be sealed away in a lab inside Server, part out of respect for 'The Greatest Soldier Who Ever Lived', part for experimental purposes. Even though they had saved the world once again, and Snake became a living legend just as his father had, TK's final words would ring in his ears forever.

"Whoever wins, the battle does not end. The loser is freed from the battlefield, the winner must remain there. And he must forever live his life as a soldier, a warrior, until he dies."

Trying to escape this destiny, Snake retired and retreated back to the artic island of Damon. Roy Campbell retired as well.

And with that, we come to present day, 2058...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: This is the last time...I swear

Snake sat silently in the small chamber, Patamon standing up next to him on the cot. He was looking down at the ground, ready to rip the head off whoever came through the lone door to the plain dark room. Well, maybe not literally, but figuratively at least. Either way, somebody's head would be rolling when he was done. After six years of retirement, living in a artic island with just himself and Patamon, avoiding all other forms of contact with humans as much as he could, he wasn't able to just take a armed kidnapping lightly.

Even if he did have the oddest feeling the man behind it would be-

And then, his feeling was proven true as the door slid open to reveal a familiar man. It might have been six years, but Snake rarely forgot things. He certainly wouldn't forget Roy Campbell. Slowly, his old commander walked into the small, boring chamber, his shoes clicking on the concrete floor as he did so.

"It's been a long time." He began.

"Figured you'd be behind this colonel." Snake growled. Slowly, he pulled a cigarette from it's box, putting a lighter up to it's tip. He wasn't in much of a good mood, even at the realization that he wasn't being kidnapped by some terrorist organization.

"Oh, come on. That's no way to greet an old war buddy."

"What do you want?"

"I invited you here so we could have a talk."

"I've been in isolation so long I must have missed when they swapped the words invited and kidnapped." Snake spat back, puffing away. He ran his fingers through his blonde hair, finally rotating his eyeballs towards Campbell.

"Sorry if that was a little rough, but we've got a serious situation. And you're the only one who can get us out of it."

His father's final words to him replayed in his mind, quickly hardening into a cement in his mind, blocking off whatever sections of his brain might consider accepting this proposition. He was still running from the destiny his father had thrust on him.

"I'm retired." He said flatly. Patamon was standing silently, watching the conversation go back and forth with interesting. "You're not my commander, I'm not with FOXHOUND. I don't have to take orders from anyone anymore."

"You _will_ take these orders, I promise you."

If Snake didn't know any better, he might have wondered if he was about to be coerced forcibly to cooperate. The way the Colonel had just delivered this last line. He almost considered in realistic when a woman walked in with a hypodermic needle in hand. "Hello." She said simply, walking up next to Snake.

"And you are?" He finally looked up, at her, keeping his face straight.

"Dr. Naomi Hunter. Chief of FOXHOUND's medical staff, expert in gene therapy." Campbell replied officially.

"Pleasure to meet you." She put the needle down above his arm. "This won't hurt a bit."

Snake was tempted to pull away. Who did these people think they were? Giving him shots without even explaining themselves, assuming he'd clean up their mess without even explaining that...but the needle sunk into his skin and it's contents were pushed into his body. Perhaps the apathy he had developed over his retirement was really beginning to affect him.

"What is it?" He grunted.

"What? You don't like shots?"

"Snake, listen. This thing we need you to do, this mission, here it is. Five hours ago, heavily armed soldiers took over and have been occupying Shadow Moses island. It's a small remote island not far from this one."

"I'm listening." Snake relented. It couldn't kill him to at least listen.

"Next-Generation Special Forces led by members of unit FOX-HOUND." Snake blinked at the mention of his former unit. So they had gone rogue. He always thought it might happen back in the day. Too many freaks, not enough control. "Server's been presented a single demand. And if it isn't met, FOXHOUND claims they'll launch a nuclear weapon."

He nodded slowly. "A nuclear weapon? Security ain't what it used to be?"

"Well, Shadow Moses is the site of a secret nuclear weapons disposal facility."

"FOXHOUND with nukes...not pretty."

"So you understand how serious this situation is? Now, you'll have two objectives. FOXHOUND also has two hostages, who were on a tour of the facility during the takeover. The DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) chief, Donald Anderson, and the president of ArmsTech, Kenneth Baker. You'll have to rescue them."

"Heavy duty hostages."

"Then, you'll investigate whether or not FOXHOUND...the terrorists, rather now, I suppose... can launch a nuclear strike, and stop them if they do. Any questions?"

Snake scoffed. "I don't recall agreeing to this."

The colonel sighed. "Fine, make up your mind after hearing more details."

"Very well. Tell me about this facility."

"It includes an underground hardened base, so we can't see what's happening inside, even with our best technology."

"So you need me to penetrate, gather intelligence, report back naturally...insertion method?"

"With this storm, an air insertion is impossible. So, we approach the facility by sub. We can only get within a few miles of it, because of sonar. Then, we launch a one-man swimmer delivery vehicle with you inside, like a torpedo. Once you get as close as you can, dispose of it and swim the rest of the way."

Snake blinked a few times, thinking he's sound rather stupid if the Colonel was joking. But silence followed the Colonel's answer, so he had to follow up. "I'm supposed to swim in sub-zero water?" He lived close enough to this Shadow Moses to have an idea of the water temperature. He certainly wouldn't live to tell the tale of a swim in it.

"Don't worry. Technology has advanced during your retreat to Damon. You'll be given a suit with the latest advances in poly-thermal technology. The facility covers the whole island, I'll be contacting you over the codec once you reach it."

"One man mission, weapons and equipment on-site procurement, I assume?"

"Yes. This is a top-secret black-op. No official support." His eyes fell on Patamon. "He'll be coming along, of course." He threw in quickly.

Snake glanced over at the wall, running through every question he might want to ask. Slowly, the barriers that blocked off the parts of his mind that would consider this began to wear away. His soldier genes were beginning to take over.

"What were the chief of DARPA and the president of an arms manufacturing company doing at a disposal facility?"

"Well, the truth is...secret exercises were being conducted at the time the terrorists attacked."

"Must be extremely important for them to be involved. Some kind of advanced weapon?"

"I don't have access to that information."

"Do we know exactly where they're being held in the facility?"

"The DARPA chief has been injected with a mini-transmitter. We don't know where he is right now, but once you get in you should be able to pick up his location through it." Naomi responded.

"Can they really launch a nuclear weapon?"

"I believe so. They even gave us the serial number of the warhead they plan to use. And it was confirmed. So at the very least, they have a warhead."

"Aren't there supposed to be safety devices?"

"Yes. Permissive Action Link, or PAL. A safety control system that uses a discrete code. But the DARPA chief knows the code, so as long as they have him, we can't rest easy."

Somewhere deep inside, he had already agreed to this mission. But his years of mental training to stay away from war forever were forcing him to ask every question that came into his mind. Try and see if something didn't check out so he'd have an excuse to refuse.

"Even if they have a warhead...they can't have a missile. The missiles on those disposal sites are supposed to be dismantled. It's not that easy to get an ICBM last I checked."

"Well, that was six years ago. Since the end of the Cold War over a decade ago, you can get anything with enough money and the right connections."

"What are the demands of these terrorists?"

Campbell glanced over at the wall, hesitating to answer for a second. Finally, he blurted it out quickly. "A person's remains."

Snake raised his eyebrow. "That's interesting."

"Well, to be more accurate, cell specimens with an individual's genomic information."

"Do explain."

"They need them. The Next-Generation Special Forces I mentioned are soldiers that have been strengthened through gene therapy. You've heard of the human genome project? They're mapping the human genome, they're nearly finished. The military has been following up on this by trying to identify those genes which are responsible for making effective soldiers."

Again, Snake was reminded of TK's final words to him. They kept coming back. Perhaps he was right after all. "So there are genes that create effective soldiers?"

"Yes, and using gene therapy we can transplant those genes into regular soldiers."

"I'll explain this part." Naomi broke in. "With gene therapy we can remove genes that we know cause sickness, for instance, and then splice in genes with positive effects, like resistance to cancer."

"And if you knew what genes made the perfect soldier, you could implant them the same way." Snake finished.

"Yes, but it all depends on identifing those 'soldier genes'. And to do that, it would be helpful to study the genomic information of one of the greatest soldiers ever."

His head swung around right back to Campbell at this. He saw where this was going. "What?"

"The man the call the greatest warrior in the history of the digital world."

"You don't mean Takeru?!"

"Yes. We recovered his remains and have been working to identify the genes responsible for his great skill in combat and perfect soldier mentality. We've managed to isolate about 60 of them so far."

"And you're just going to transplant those genes into all your soldiers?"

"Yes, eventually. We've discovered that hereditary factors are far more important for making good soldiers than training or experience, so using this our soldiers will become incredibly strong."

"Which is why we can't give Takeru's remains to the terrorists. It's potentially more dangerous than every warhead on Shadow Moses put together. Now, here's where you might be interested. The terrorists have been calling themselves 'The Sons of Takeru'."

"Hmmm..." he thought on this for a moment. He didn't know what to draw from this, so he changed the subject. "What's the time limit?"

"They said they'd launch after 24 hours. This was 5 hours ago. They haven't mentioned a target."

He nodded. "Who are you speaking for? Who's in supervisory control of this operation?"

"The Server government, and president George Sears, of course."

"Has a Continuity of Government been issued?"

"Not yet. Not until you infiltrate and determine they have nuclear capability."

"Again, you assume I'm going to accept." He shot back. Though he was just about certain at this point he would. "Is the NSA and DIA in on this?"

"Yes, we'll be getting some support from them. A nuclear weapons specialist, who's also an expert on hi-tech weapons to boot."

"Speaking of which, how well armed will these terrorists be?"

"Heavily. And they're experienced as well. There are six members of FOXHOUND in charge of this, all hardened veterans. The others are Next-Generation Special Forces, not your everyday grunt."

He smashed the remains of his cigarette against the wall. "Tell me about this NGSF."

"They started as a anti-terrorist special ops unit. They were to respond to threats involving weapons of mass destruction."

"And then, 'they' were added." Naomi finished.

"Who's they?"

"Guys who didn't start out in the army. Mercenaries." Campbell picked up. "Most of them from an agency you're familiar with. Part of Takeru's private guard. When you killed Takeru, we just bought out their contracts. Then we merged them with our own VR unit and retrained them. Really, you might call them simulated soldiers more than anything. They don't have a lick of real battle experience."

"Video game players, huh?"

"Even so, they've been strengthened with gene therapy, so don't be careless."

"I was under the impression that was against the law."

Naomi glanced at the floor, going slightly red. "Well, yes, but those are just declorations. Not treaties."

"What I don't get is how an entire unit was subverted to take part in this rebellion. How they all decided to take part in it."

"Not every one. Close, but a few resisted. But still, it is quite interesting."

Naomi took this one. "They all went through the same gene therapy, they must feel closer than brothers. They see the unit as a family."

"The sons of Takeru indeed. But what about things like psychological tests? They must have been able to show if there was something wrong with them."

"They all got straight A's, all seemed to be upstanding, patriotic soldiers. A month ago...they did start to act strangely."

"What?"

"They consulted classified files about soldier genes and performed gene therapy experiments on themselves."

"They can do that?"

"It's not as hard as you'd think, almost completely automated. But even if it wasn't, every NGSF member has an IQ of 180. The mere exsistence of this army is a top national secret, we're trying to deal with it behind closed doors."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "Alright, tell me about FOXHOUND these days?"

"Yes. Your old unit. I once commanded it. An elite group that combines firepower, expertise, and-"

"Freaks." Snake finished.

"Freaks they may be, but they're every bit as good as I remember them when I commanded. Six members are involved in this, each having gone through extensive DNAT injections to give them abilities beyond the normal human spectrum. They've all got partners as well, who will prove very tough to beat, even by a warrior as fierce as your Patamon. We know only their codenames, as always, a clue into their ability followed by an animal. Psycho Mantis, a powerful psychic. Sniper Wolf, a deadly sharpshooter from afar. Decoy Octopus, shapeshifter. Vulcan Raven, giant and shaman. And Revolver Ocelot...now he's a bit different. We do know his name, Ken Ichijouji. And he's gone through no such DNAT injections, and is quite old, but he is still remarkable with a revolver."

"I've heard of him." Snake said slowly, thinking hard.

"Yes, I pulled up a file on him. Interesting case. Infected with a 'Dark Spore' at a young age that made him a genius, but also caused him to become bored with the world around him. He tried to take over the digital world, but was stopped by the digidestined, the group that of course included Takeru. He ended up joining them. Years after Malomyotismon fell, he defected from Server to Buffet. But it was a ruse set up by Server, and his undercover exploitations of Buffet immensely helped Server become the dominant superpower. Takeru was part his friend, part his idol, and I believe a bit his rival. He later joined FOXHOUND, had many great years working under Takeru. But this time, I believe his change of loyalty is no ruse."

"Yes. And the sixth member?"

"That would be their new commander. Here's where I thought you'd might be interested. His name, or rather codename, happens to be Liquid Snake."

Snake almost laughed. It sounded like a joke. Solid...Liquid...a rather poor joke, some imposter perhaps. He smiled. "Cute."

"Hardly. That's why I've come out here to get you, you're likely the only one who can stand up to him. In FOXHOUND lore, the 'Snake' animal is highly regarded. They're not just random animals. There's a bit of a ranking system involved with them. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say you'd have to really earn the codename 'Snake'. He, like you, apperantly has been brought up around and in war. Bred to be a soldier it seems."

"I know about the ranking system, that's not the thing. By the time I retired they threw out the codename system I thought."

"Yes, but we don't know their real names. Except for Ken. So that's all we can call them. And we can only assume that Liquid Snake's codename means he's proven himself to the same level you did. But it goes deeper." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a hi-res photograph. "Look at this picture of him."

Snake looked at it, comprehension hitting him hard. He had brown hair, and his skin tone was slightly darker. Otherwise, they looked exactly the same. Same face, same features...he was reminded of comparing himself to pictures of Takeru when he was in his 20's and 30's, and finding out he looked _exactly_ like he had. He didn't like that moment much, and wasn't too fond of this one either.

"He may as well be my twin..." Snake mused under his breath.

"And guess who his partner is?" He looked at Patamon, getting the message across. "That's why we need you. I don't know the details, but it's extremely possible you two are related. And therefore, I could only expect you to realistically pull this off."

His mind looked for something else. "I have to be in Zurc on saturday...dogsled race."

"Oh, so you've you become a dog musher. Since when?"

"I've got alot of dogs, right now they and Patamon are my only family. I've got to take care of them."

"I'm sorry, but...we're not on land right now. This is a boat, already floating about five miles away from Shadow Moses. There's no more room for debate about whether or not you're going to accept. We're waiting to launch the submarine as soon as you're briefed."

Snake looked around. He hadn't felt the ship rocking back and forth at all. Either he was going soft, or it was one hell of a ship. But this didn't distract him from the point.

"Why should I accept? I'm no patriot, you must know that by now."

"I didn't want to have to do this, but there's enough dirt in your file from your agent days to put you in the stockade until you're very old."

"Wonderful." Snake rolled his eyes. "Blackmail. I can see we've advanced well as a civilization since I retired."

"I prefer to look at it as helping you make a decision. But even without that threat, I know you're going to accept."

He was right. But Snake wasn't ready to admit that.

"You're a natural born soldier. You can't just sit up here with your dogs forever. I'm a soldier too. The only place we really feel alive is on the battlefield. I want to give you purpose back into your life. Please, come back to us and be a soldier again."

This reminded him too much of his father's final words. "So my life is some kind of a joke now?" He pounded the wall with his fist. "I'm just some tool you can use to fight your battles until I die because I was born with some genes?"

"Snake, listen...we all know it. You're a soldier. Being a soldier gives you purpose in life. That's just the way it is."

Snake almost retorted back, but decided to move on from this sensitive area. Mainly because the Colonel was right in the end. "Why are you involved? You're retired."

"I know FOXHOUND like few others. And I found I don't know anything else other than this, I suppose."

"You're a bad liar."

Campbell looked up at the ceiling. "If you must know, a person very dear to me is being held hostage within the facility. My niece, Meryl. She was stationed there as a soldier during the revolt. She didn't go along with the revolt, and was taken hostage."

"I see."

"Her father died in the persian war. I've watched after her since."

"A personal motive? Not very soldierly."

"I'm just an old man now, and she's one of the few things I still have."

Snake smiled again, letting his mental barriers shatter away. "Very well. Two conditions, however. No secrets between us I want complete disclosure at all times. And I'll only accept orders from you, Colonel."

"Agreed. Just one thing. I'm not a colonel anymore."

"I understand, Colonel. And this doctor...Hunter, she's part of this operation as well?" He looked over at the woman.

"Yes, I know those men better than anyone else."

"That injection you gave me...what was that for?"

"It's quite a cocktail. It had nanomachines, which should reactivate your old codec and replenish the suppy of adrenaline, nutrition and sugar in your body, an anti-freezing peptide so you don't freeze out there, nootropics, drugs that will improve your mental functioning, and beezedrine, a stimulant that keeps you alert for 12 hours."

"Nice." He was starting to really like the sound of this. It was good to be back on the job. Good to be back with all this technology.

"I've got a similar shot for Patamon." She whipped it out. "Should accomplish the same ends. No codec though, as he's never had one installed, it would take too long at this point. I doubt you two will get separated anyway."

"Alright." He stood up. That was that. Time to pursue his destiny. "Anyone have a pair of scissors?" He ran his fingers through his hair, which was exactly the same as Liquid's except for the color. "I think I better change styles. I don't need people mistaking me for the terrorist leader."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Infiltration

The torpedo-like transport pushed through the icy cold water, zooming toward it's destination. A small cave in the rockwall side of the island was the target. Through it, they should manage to come out in front of the disposal facility.

Snake tugged at his tight fitting uniform. A little hard to move, but he knew without it he'd surely catch hypothermia and probably die in this frozen hellhole. Patamon wore something similar, which he wasn't a particular fan of either.

"I hate this damn thing." He groaned as the cave same up closer and closer on the screen at the top of the capsule.

"Well without it, you'd be dead in a couple seconds here, so deal with it." Snake grunted back, fingering the eject button. The torpedo was beginning to slow, sinking towards the bottom of the ocean. He put his mask on and smashed the button.

The capsule broke into two, and the pair began swimming up into the cave. The pieces began to slip back into the ocean, sinking to the bottom.

They ended up coming up in what appeared to be a storage area, boxes everywhere. He pulled himself out of the water, Patamon close behind. He hid behind a pile of crates, looking around. A pair of guards...strange, this place hardly seemed to be deserving of attention by sentries.

Unless, of course, they were expected.

He activated his Codec, quite a piece of technology. It directly stimulated the bones in his ear, so only he could hear transmissions. And, in certain situations, he could transmit by simply thinking what he wanted to say, so he could remain silent while transmitting. It had probably saved his life more than a few times.

"Alright, I'm in." He transmitted.

"Good. What's the situation?"

"The cave led to a storage room. To get up to the facility, I need to take a ladder in the back. But there's a couple of sentries I've got to clear out of the way first."

"That's odd. Guarding a storage room. Well, take care of it. You don't have a weapon yet, and you won't be able to steal one off a guard, so keep it quiet."

"Why can't I steal one?"

"Once those kind of guns are claimed by a person, the grip will scan the fingerprint of the user every time it's picked up, and if you're not that person, it won't work. You'll have to find an unclaimed one."

"Great." He had hoped things would be a little easier. He assumed finding an unclaimed gun wouldn't be particularly easy. These guys were smart and wouldn't just leave things lying around.

"Just get up that ladder, and don't attract any attention."

Snake stepped out from his cover, slowly creeping around piles of boxes. The guards were patrolling around alertly, as if they expected someone to come around any time. But even in this mode, Snake was simply too good to be caught by a couple of soldiers. Even if they were 'special'. He stepped up right behind one, and in a swift motion, snapped his neck. A second later, he heard a second snap. Patamon had quickly dealt with the second one.

They ran over to the ladder and ascended it to the ground level above. Snake popped his head out, looking around at the snow-covered ground. There it was, the facility. A plain, boring gray, snow topping it. Inbetween them and the entrance was a helipad with a helicopter, couple of trucks, some structures, and a plethora of sentries.

The two ran behind a lookout tower, ducking out of sight of the guard above.

"Alright, I'm up."

"Age hasn't slowed you down one bit. How's the suit?"

"I'm dry and warm...little hard to move."

"It's well worth it. On top of the warmth, it will also give you the ability to withstand more injuries than normal, and it can blend in to your surroundings."

"What about the diversionary operation you mentioned?"

"Two F-16s are heading your way now. The terrorists should have picked them up on radar by now. It should distract them so you can slip in."

He peered out from behind his cover at the sound of an engine revving. The helicopter's blades were spinning, a pair of guards and a man in a brown trenchcoat stood by the door. The man was getting into the pilot seat.

"A Hind D? What's a Russian Gunship doing here?"

"No idea, but now's your best chance to slip in."

The helicopter took flight, kicking snow everywhere. The guards all looked up at it as it flew away, shielding their eyes.

"You've only got 18 hours until their deadline. Hurry. First, I want you to infiltrate and find the DARPA chief, get whatever information you can from him, and when this is all over, get him out. When you get close to him, we'll be able to pick up his nanomachines and tell you exactly where he is. And if you can, try and acquire a weapon on the way. You're completely naked except for your binoculars."

"Not quite." He muttered, pulling a box of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket. "Sorry to disappoint you." He held it up to his eyes, so that the camera within his iris could see it.

"But...but you were strip searched by Naomi I thought."

"I was. Smuggled them out in my stomach. Thanks to the shot she gave me that suppressed by stomach acids, ironically enough."

"And just what are you going to do with cigarrettes?" Naomi piped in.

"Who knows?"

"Well, go easy on them if you must."

Snake pulled out his binoculars and began to look around at the facility. "Front door...I can't just knock and ask them to let me in. There's an air duct on the ground to the left..."

"And there should be one on the second level, on the balcony above." Campbell added. Snake looked up, but couldn't see it over the railing. "I'll let you decide the best COA. Good luck."

He began creeping out with his partner, both of them blending in with the snow around them thanks to their suits chameleon-like properties, slowly creeping up the right side towards the front. The guards were patrolling around their designed paths. Smart they may have been, Snake was smarter. His suit also covered up footprints he left by pushing snow back over as he stepped over. Quite handy.

Patamon flew forward, high in the air, to handle the sentry ahead on the path. He too hadn't lost anything over the last six years. He smoothly hovered right behind his head and snapped his neck. Snake ran ahead, keeping low and tracking the five remaining guards with his eyes.

"Check the trucks." He said after getting back up to Patamon, taking cover behind a storage crate. Patamon flew ahead and fluttered into the back of the trucks. He checked the other before coming back, staying high to avoid detection. He was heaving over a SOCOM pistol by the barrel.

Snake caught it as he threw it over to him. The grip read his prints through his gloves and programmed itself to him. Technology could be a beautiful thing.

No more ammo concerns either. These guns fired bullets of energy, and ran off a battery that could last for a very long time. Yes, we have come a long time...in some ways.

They moved across the facility wall, towards the front door and the duct to the left of it. The suits changed to adapt to the plain gray behind them. He activated the silencer on his pistol and popped the guard who was going around the duct. It felt strangely satisfing to shoot people, even after all these years. Sounds sick, but that's all Snake ever was and ever will be.

Quickly, he ran up to and shoved the body under the closeby truck. Then, he went prone to the ground and quickly crawled into the facility. Those bodies would be discovered eventually, he had to make as much progress as he could while he was undiscovered.

He and Patamon made their way through the metallic pathway into the building, sinking underwater at some points and chasing mice here and there. At one point, they were afraid they were just going to keep going down into a flooded section and drown, but they always came back up in time.

"Snake, it's been a long time." A voice buzzed into his ear. He hadn't heard that voice in a long time. One of his instructors back in the day.

"Master Miller? What are you doing here?"

"I quit being a drill instructor awhile back as well. Moved to Damon just like you for some peace and quiet. Once in awhile I help train some scouts up here. Campbell told me about the situation up here, I thought I could be of some use."

"There's no one I'd rather have helping me than you."

"Well, I know alot about living in a harsh enviroment, I lived in Damon alot longer than you. Any questions, contact me through the codec, any time."

"Alright. Nice to have you aboard." He emerged into a hangar, a tank parked in the middle and soldiers marching around. He took cover behind a wall pillar.

"More sentries...seems a little much considering the situation."

"We really are expected." Patamon added.

"Yes. Almost as if they suspected someone of my calibur to try."

"This...Liquid guy. You think you two might be related?"

Snake closed his eyes for a second. "I don't know. But everything I've seen indicates it. It almost seems as if he anticipated me as well...if I had a brother, I'll bet he'd see that coming as well. It's complicated, but if I have a twin, he'd know how I think."

"Alright, let's move."

"Wait." Two of the guards were talking.

"I want you to increase security detail on the DARPA chief, I've moved him to the 1st floor basement. And keep an eye on the woman in the cell next to him, don't get careless."

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah, we've got an intruder. Already killed three people. Apperantly he's using brand new stealth technology. Can't even see him until you're already dead. Be careful."

Patamon and Snake both listened hard, thinking. Snake looked down at him, making quite sure he wasn't invisible. "There's an intruder besides us?"

"We can't worry about that right now. There's an elevator across the room." Patamon began flying across, hugging the wall, making his way towards it. Snake followed, holding his gun out, wishing Patamon would stop being so gung ho.

After passing the tank, he saw a trifecta of guards in the area. Deciding direct force was the best method to use in this instance, he quickly shot all three of them. He hadn't lost accuracy over the years either, each one fell with just one slug of lead. Patamon hit the down button on the elevator as Snake swept the bodies under the tank.

"Snake, a little less cautious than I generally expect from you." Came the transmission into his ear.

"I think they already know were here. Or at least, that we would be coming."

"That's impossible, this is a black op of the highest security."

"Well, they do. There's a hell of a lot more security than there should be, like they knew someone of my calibur would show up, at the very least. It makes sense if the man at the head of all of this is my brother. He would know how I think, know that I would end up doing this." He walked towards the elevator as it came up, the door sliding open. "If I happen to leave a few bodies around, I don't think it's gonna made a difference."

"Alright. I trust you. But this is still a stealth mission."

He stepped into the elevator, hitting the button to be taken down to B1. He felt the elevator slide down into the ground. After a moment, a quiet beep, the doors slid open. Snake crouched, ready for action, but no guards awaited him. Odd. But he wasn't about to complain. He stepped out, looking around the plain building for some idea of where to go next.

"Snake, we've got the DARPA chief!" Naomi buzzed in. "See the wall to your left? On the other side of that wall is what appears to be a cell where the chief is being held. Find a way in."

"Got it." He confirmed, looking around. None of the doors would open, not responding to his motion. Just as he thought he should turn back and look elsewhere, Patamon noticed a air duct near the ceiling leading into the wall. Patamon flew in, Snake pulled himself up into it, and they began crawling again.

"I don't know how much gray I can take. I miss outdoor missions." Patamon whispered as they proceeded.

"I know what you mean. I could use some flavor to this-" he crawled over a vent in the ducts and looked down. A woman was lying on a bed in a cell, doing situps. "Mmmm."

"That must be Meryl." Said Patamon as he looked down through the vent.

"Lovely." He continued crawling forward, over the vent.

"She's like, 12 years younger than you!" Patamon retorted. He had a point, but he had a thing about being jealous about anyone or anything that took a special interest with his master. Like women.

"It's not like I would act on it." He grunted, coming up on another vent. He peered down. An elder black man, wearing a white suit and blue pants. He was sitting on his bed, looking worried. The DARPA chief.

He knocked on the vent quietly, catching his attention. He looked up, springing up from the bed and backing away from the vent. Snake popped it up and slid down into the cell. Patamon followed.

"Who...who are you two?!" He demanded.

"I'm here to save you. Providing you are the DARPA chief, Donald Anderson, at any rate."

"Here to save me, huh? What's your outfit?"

"I'm the pawn they sent in here to save your worthless butt." He said flatly, walking up to the man who was slowly backing away into the wall.

He considered him. "Really? You don't look like one of them. If that's the case, get me out of here."

"Slow down. I'm here for more than you. I need information about the terrorists right now. Can they really launch a nuke?"

"What?"

"The terrorists claim they have a nuclear weapon, and will launch it if the Server government doesn't give in to their demands."

The DARPA chief sighed, put his hand to his forehead, and turned around to face the wall. "Yes...it's possible. They could launch a nuke."

"How? I thought this place was just for keeping dismantled warheads...I got something in my briefing about a secret project."

"Alright. I'm about to tell you something very classified. Okay? Both of you, don't go around repeating it. We were conducting excercises with a new experimental weapon here. It will change the world. It can launch a nuclear attack from anywhere on the face of the earth. A walking battle tank."

"Metal Gear?! It can't be!" Snake let out. A little too loud. The guard outside pounded on the door, telling the chief to shut up.

After he walked away, the conversation picked back up. "How did you know? Metal Gear is the most secret black project there is!"

"We've met in the past. That's why you were here I take it. I thought the Metal Gear project was scrapped."

"On the contrary, it's become a huge joint project between Armstech and ourselves. We were going to use today's excercise as raw data and then mass produce it. But then...they took over. I'm afraid Rex has fallen into the hands of the terrorists."

"Rex?"

"Codename for this new metal gear prototype. Scarier than any Metal Gear you may have run into before."

Snake nodded, trying to imagine how deadly this thing could end up being if this was true. He didn't like it one bit.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Heart Attacks

"These guys have probably already armed the warhead they plan to use with REX. They're real professionals."

"I thought nuclear warhead had safety measures to prevent this kind of stuff? PAL or something."

"Yes. It's set up so you have to input two different passwords before you can launch. I know one, and Baker knows one. But..." he looked down at the ground. "...they found out my password."

"You talked?" Snake had to resist the urge to grab him by his collar and shake him. He couldn't understand weak-minded people who couldn't resist torture.

"No. It's Psycho Mantis...he can read people's minds. Nothing you can do."

"Meaning it's only a matter of time before they get Baker's password too. Once they get that, they can launch any time. This is bad."

"There is a way to stop the launch." Anderson interjected.

"What?"

"The card keys. They were designed by ArmsTech as an emergency override. You can insert the card keys into the computers and engage the safety lock even without the passwords."

"So where are these keys?"

"Baker should have them. There are three card keys. Three different slots to put them in once you get up to the control room inside the storage facility where Metal Gear is kept."

"Okay. You know where Baker is kept by any chance?"

"B2. The guard said something about moving him down to B2. Apperantly they cemented over the entrances leading to where they put him. I heard they were planning to paint over them, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. Look for areas where the walls are off-color."

"Got it."

"Also, here." He pulled up his shirt and removed a tiny patch from his stomach, handing it over to Snake. "This will get you past low level security doors. Level one to be exact. I'd give you more, but it's all I got. I was to be escorted to anywhere that required a higher level. You might run into some of them that have higher access." He pointed at the door to the cell, indicating the guard.

"I've heard of these things. You just walk up to the door and it slides open for you, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, let's get you out of here."

"Wait..." the chief walked up to him, stopping just about a foot from his face. "You haven't heard of any other way to disarm the PAL? From your bosses or something?"

Snake lifted his eyebrow slightly, looking back into the man's eyes. A strange thing to ask. "...no."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"I just said no."

"Does Server plan to give in to the terrorists demands?"

"That's their problem. I don't know or care."

Suddenly, the chief grabbed his chest and began to spasm, screaming and falling to his knees. "Nnnnnnngghhhhhhh!" He moaned, slowly crawling on his knees towards Snake and Patamon. They backed away, looking down on the scene.

"What the hell?!"

"Ww...why? Uuuuugghhh!" He fell to the floor, spasming for the final time, then suddenly stopped at Snake's feet. Snake checked his pulse. Dead.

He heard a banging coming from the other side of one of the walls to the cell. Must have been the girl he saw. She might have been yelling something too, but Snake couldn't make it out.

"Naomi!" He growled, transmitting through his codec. "What just happened?" He demanded.

"I...I don't know. It looked like a heart attack, but..."

"A heart attack? No..." Campbell joined in on the conversation.

Snake kicked the body over, looking the front over. Nothing odd. "...Colonel, are you hiding something?"

"Absolutely not. Look, this op is security level red. I don't even have access to the complete file."

"You want me to believe you're in charge of this op, but don't have complete access to the file?!"

"The secretary of defense is in operational control. I'm just here for your support. We don't have time for this right now, get out of there and find President Baker!" The transmission cut. Snake walked up to the door. Obviously, he didn't have security clearance. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a door sliding open from outside, and then a struggle. A fight of some sort. Then, he heard a click from his own door after a minute. The light above it flashed from red to green. The security clearance level had been brought down to zero.

He wasn't quite sure how to link these various events, but he doubted the guards had decided to just make it easy for him and open the door. So he cautiously stepped outside the door, turning his head to every direction. A look to his left had him looking down the barrel of a FA-MAS, held by one of the NGSF guards...no wait. He flashed his eyeballs behind the guard and saw a man, unconscious and huddled naked in the corner. The door to the woman's cell was wide open. She had broken out and stolen the guard's clothes.

"Don't move!" She commanded, her voice clearly shaking, as well as her hands. She peered into the cell. "You killed the chief?! You bastard!" She raised the gun up a fraction of an inch. Snake just looked at her casually, giving a half-smile. She looked him over, then noticed the Patamon standing on the ground next to him. "Liquid?! No...you're not." Now it was Snake's turn to glance down and saw a Gatomon at her feet, starring his Patamon down, trying to appear threatening, and failing miserably.

Snake let the standoff hold for a second, then suddenly threw his arms up in the air in a sudden movement, then throwing them back down just as quickly. As he expected, the woman jumped up in the air, startled, but didn't shoot. "Don't move!" She commanded again, shaking her hands even more now.

"You've never pointed a gun at a person before, have you?" Snake asked casually. "Your hands are shaking."

Her silence answered his question. Smiling, he grabbed the barrel of the FA-MAS and pulled the tip to his chest. She began to shake even more. Snake broke out in a full smile, almost laughing. "Think you can shoot me, rookie?"

"I'm...I'm no rookie!" She objected, her eyes, the only part of her face revealed by her ski mask, giving herself away.

"Liar. Those are rookies eyes if i've ever saw them. You've never shot a person, have you?" He pushed the barrel, away, slowly drawing his SOCOM, raising it to her face. "You haven't even taken the safety off."

The woman's eyeballs rotated to the safety on the rifle, her fingers moving up to fumble with it, flipping it to active mode. "You talk too much." Patamon gave a laugh of his own from the ground. Part from the action taking place above him, part because Gatomon was feinting going in to attack him rather pathetically.

"What's a rookie like you doing out here?"

"I told you, I'm no rookie!"

He ignored her. "You're not one of them are you?"

"No. You've got security access, don't you? Open that door?" She motioned towards the door leading out to the main B1 area.

Snake was having fun. "Why?" He folded his arms across his chest. This Meryl, assuming this was her, sure was a character.

"So we can get the hell out of here!"

The door slid open suddenly, a group of guards rushing in, FA-MAS's at the ready. Snake snapped his SOCOM up, shooting them as they rushed through the doorway. Patamon joined in by firing through the doorway as well They began to rush in faster than Snake and Patamon could shoot them, and he couldn't help but notice the woman was just standing there, gun pointed at the doorway, watching.

"Shoot!" He yelled over his gunfire. She complied, sending a stream of bullets at the guards as they flowed into the room. But they did manage to get off shots here and there. Snake got clipped in the foot and thigh, pleased to feel the properties of the suit already beginning to deal with it. A handful of grenades flew into the room. Snake threw himself into the DARPA chief's cell, Patamon following close behind, but the woman and her partner just stood there, still blindly shooting at nothing in the doorway. Snake had to jump out and pull them back in just before the explosion.

After the smoke cleared, she pushed off of him, grabbed Gatomon, and ran out. "Thanks for the help!" She ran out of the room, out into the main area, towards the elevator. Snake found himself looking at her butt for a second when he ran out to chase her...it was very odd. She kind of wiggled it when she-then he remembered what he was here for.

"Who are you!" He yelled after her. She ran into the elevator, slammed a button, and began firing wildly in Snake's direction, he ducked behind the wall, she continued to fire at the general area of where he had hid until the doors slid shut. "Dammit!" He looked out, and was greeted by an odd site. Patamon peered out as well, and saw it too.

A tall, spindly man, wearing a black suit and what appeared to be a gas mask, floating in midair in front of the elevator doors. "Good girl...just like that..." he was saying. At least, he thought, he was hard to understand. And then, he was gone, disappearing seemingly into thin air.

"Naomi!" He cried through his codec. "I think I just hallucinated, I saw-"

"No, I saw it too." Patamon interjected.

"Well, then what was it?"

Campbell's voice came through his ear. "It must have been Psycho Mantis. Think of it as a mental feedback loop."

"So that must have been Mantis..." He repeated. He looked around, stepped out from his cover carefully, and hit the down button on the elevator. After a minute, the doors slid open to reveal the compartment, and they stepped in. "Alright, B2."

After sinking further into the ground, the doors slid open to reveal a room filled with more crates, guards patrolling around them. The beep and sliding noises the elevator gave attracted their attention, and their heads turned to meet this new adversary. Snake was ready, already with his gun out, firing off at a crate marked 'C3'. He slammed the 'door shut' button just as the crate spit fire in all directions.

After a few seconds, he opened the door, greeted by slightly burnt floors, walls, and ceilings, a couple of singed guards lying on the ground, trying to get up, and some burnt and some destroyed crates. Before anyone got up, Snake finished them all in one sweep of the room.

"That was pretty cool." Patamon admitted. "Not everyday you can just do things so smoothly like that."

"Handy indeed." He bent over a crate along the outer edges of the room, marked C3 as well, spared the explosion thanks to it's distance from the crate that was shot. He pulled out a block and a detonator out of the box next to it. He began walking around the walls of the room, checking the color. Finally, near the end of his check, he found a discolored section. He slammed some C3 on it, a detonator in the clay, set it for ten seconds, and ran away. The explosion blew out the fresh concrete, revealing a pathway into a new area. A camera on the wall in this area immediately swiveled towards this disturbance, firing off it's turret at the newly created hole in the wall.

"I don't like the looks of that." Patamon stated simply, as the turret cooled off. "Am I going to have to be the one to take care of it...again?"

"Maybe not." Snake said, prying open another crate. "Let's see what these terrorists are packing."

After a moment, he pulled out a small circular object with a small button in the middle. "Chaff. Watch." He pressed the button, and the camera began swiveling rapidly, pointing in all directions at random, the light on it's front changing color from red to green to black as fast as you could blink.

They quickly hurried through the hallway to a door, thankfully without a security level. Apperantly, the concrete wall was supposed to be enough. It slid open, revealing a square room with four pillars forming a circle in the center. In the center of these was an old, large man, tied to a concrete support. President Baker.

Snake stepped towards the center of the room. "...am I too late." The man groaned. "You're the ArmsTech president, Kenneth Baker, right? I'm here to save you."

"Nooo!" He screamed, though thanks to what appeared to be quite a bit of pain he barely managed to make it audible. "Don't...Don't touch it!"

Snake realized just in time that the pillars were wrapped around with wires, and attached to the wires was C3.

"C3?"

He heard the click of a gun, and then a shot was fired off. It hit the ground right inbetween Snake's feet. He jumped back, looking around the room.

"Right." A old man came around the pillars, twirling a revolver on his finger and a Wormmon perched on his shoulder. "Touch that wire, and the old man blows up along with it." He stopped, looking Snake over carefully. "So...you're the one the boss keeps talking about." He smiled, grabbing the grip of his revolver to stop the spin. "The spitting image."

"And you must be Ke-"

"Revolver Ocelot, please." He reloaded his revolver barrel slowly. "You're not the only one who prefers codenames to real names. Special Operations FOX-HOUND. I've been waiting for you, Solid Snake. Let's see if the man can live up to the legend." He held out his gun. "The greatest gun ever made, if you ask me. Six bullets. More than enough to kill anything that moves. Oh, this brings me back. Many years ago, a man who looked just like you turned me on to them. I never got to thank him. I fought him many times as well...oh how he would humiliate me time after time. Luckily, most of the time, we were on the same side."

He ducked behind one of the pillars. "Takeru? So it's true. You do know my father. You must be really old."

"You don't deserve to call the great man that was Takeru Takaishi your father. Takeru never had any children, I don't care what he might have told you. Regardless, if you really are his son, you'd be able to beat me in a duel. Which won't happen." He flipped his gun up in the air, catching it with the other hand. "And old I may be, you'll still find my sharpshooting skills to be superb."

"I take no pleasure in calling Takeru my father. And we'll see about that duel." He turned out from the pillar, facing Ken, gun out.

"Very well." They holstered their guns. "One...two...three...draw!" And the fight was on.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: No name

And so, they fought, moving around the pillars in the center of the room, being quite careful not to touch the wires, shooting at each other whenever it was safe. Patamon and Wormmon fought as well, again being cautious not to trigger an explosion. They ducked behind the pillars, popping out to shoot each other, running around the room. It was awkward, having to inhibit their fighting because of delicate situation in the middle of the room.

Snake ran around to the left, raising his gun and sneaking a shot in through the pillars at Ken. He got him for...he guessed maybe the fourth time. But even at an old age, the man was able to take alot of punishment. Snake as well, having been hit three times, one in a vital area, but continuing to fight thanks to the wonders of technology.

"Oh, I don't remember feeling so alive!" He would yell at random intervals. "So long since I've had a worthwhile foe!" He risked a shot after turning the corner, but Snake ducked behind a pillar just fast enough. He began to reload while running. "I love reloading in the middle of a battle. So...satisfing."

Or perhaps not. While reloading, he ended up running right into Snake, who quickly turned around and fired off three bullets before Ken managed to take cover behind the pillar. He was grabbing his chest. He was beginning to heal thanks to his own suit, but even with that he could only take so much.

"Just what I'd expect from the man with the same codename as the boss." He yelled from his cover, reloading. "I haven't had such a good fight in a long time. Takeru would be proud. Shame we have to be on different sides." He stood up, dealing with the pain. "But I'm just getting warmed up."

Snake might have asked why Takeru would be proud if, apperantly, Ken didn't believe he was his son if they weren't in the middle of a fight. He might have asked anyway if not for what happened next.

He popped out from his cover, ready to fire right at Snake. But then, a strange haze-y figure jumped down from the ceiling and flashed past him. When the figure passed, Ken's arm had been cut off at the forearm, blood spurting from the stump. He grabbed it, trying to stop the flow. "What?! My hand!" He cried, going back into cover, looking down on his lost arm.

The figure ran around the pillars, cutting all the wires with great speed, and then the ropes tying Baker to the support pillar. The C3 didn't explode thanks to the precision of this strange being. Baker fell to the ground, groaning.

Ken was still trying to plug the bleeding from his arm. He peered out from the pillar at the hazed figure. "Stealth camouflague...can't you even die right?!" He looked at Snake, running towards the door in the back of the room. "You were lucky, we'll meet again!" He ripped Wormmon off Patamon as he passed the two of them fighting.

As he left, the hazed figure revealed itself. Whoever he was, he was fully uniformed as a Cyborg Ninja of sorts. Snake felt his stomach drop, but quickly recovered, pointing his gun at the ninja.

"Who are you?!" He demanded, terrified he already knew.

"I'm like you...I have no name." The new being responded, holding out a katana.

Baker began screaming from the ground. "Ohhh! Ohhh! That...exoskeleton!"

The ninja and Snake stared down each other for a second, and then, the ninja started convulsing, a bit like the DARPA chief had.

"Ggggaaaayyyyhhhhh!" He repeated, shaking wildly without control. Snake just watched, not sure what to do. Suddenly, the ninja stopped, and jumped out of the room, flipping about as he did. Snake stood rock still for a second, then holstered his weapon.

"What the hell?" Patamon began, but was cut off by Snake's hand, asking for silence by placing his palm out towards him.

He bent down over the ArmsTech president, picking up him, dragging him out from the center of the pillars against the wall. "Can you talk?"

The old man slowly turned his head to face him, then glanced over at Patamon. "Who are you two?"

"Don't worry, we're not with them. We don't have time, quickly, did you give them your detonation code? The DARPA chief told me he already gave them his."

"Oh...oh I see. You're from the SFS. Jim sent you."

"Answer me! We don't have time!"

He looked at the ground to the right of him. "I...talked."

Snake pounded the wall with his first."Dammit! Now they can launch anytime!"

"Hey, it's not like I didn't fight! I managed to resist Psycho Mantis's mind probe."

"He couldn't read you? How?"

"Surgical implants in my brain. Kind of like an insulation. Everyone who knows top secret codes like this have them."

"The DARPA chief too? He told me Mantis got his code by reading his mind."

"Are you sure you heard him right? Mantis shouldn't have been able to..."

"In any case, how did they get your code then?"

He looked back up at him. "Oh, I've never had any training on how to resist torture." He coughed violently. "He's not human, I tell you. Loved every second of it." He pointed out towards the door that Ken had run out through.

"Yeah, looks like he had some fun with you. What happened to your arm?"

He looked down at his right arm, hanging lamely from it's socket. "He broke it."

"You're more than even now, his got sliced off." He walked over to the hand, still gripping the revolver, picking it up. He looked it over, then threw it aside, finding nothing of potential interest.

"You're a funny man. So the DARPA chief, he's okay then?"

Snake walked back up to Baker. "Dead."

"What?! It can't be!" He tried to push himself up, pushing away from Snake with his functional arm. "That's not what you promised, Jim!" He yelled, coughing violently between words here and there. "Now you want to shut me up!" He tried to kick out at Snake as he went up to him.

Snake grabbed him, calming him down. "Calm down! I'm here to save you! I didn't kill the DARPA chief, he had a heart attack...or something."

"A heart attack?" He looked at Snake as he backed away from him slightly. "Oh, don't be a fool."

"Anyway, it's not important now. What's important is the terrorists can launch anytime."

"They're totally insane. Wouldn't hesitate to launch."

"Agreed, but what do they really want?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're like us in the arms industry. Always waiting for the next good war."

"Well, I won't let these maniacs start a war today. You still have the card keys?"

"What?"

The card keys to override the detonation codes! I thought you had them."

"Oh. No, not anymore."

"What?! Who does then?! Not the terrorists?!"

"No...that woman. I forget her name...a soldier who was thrown into prison with me. She said she had just joined up as a new recruit."

"Must have been that girl I met on B1. Was her name Meryl?"

"Perhaps. I gave her the key, heard she managed to break out of here over my codec. I hope she's alright."

"She's green...but tough as they come. So she has a Codec?"

"Yes. A primitive one, one of those where you have to carry that receiver around with you and the earpiece is just pushed into your ear like a plug...but you should be able to contact her. 140.75 was her frequency."

"I'll contact her once I get out of here. But...if this doesn't work, is there some other way to stop the launch?"

"Hmm. Yes. One of my employees should know a bit more about Metal Gear Rex. Hal Izumi. A genius, but a bit of an oddball. Team leader on this whole project. I'm not positive there would be another way to stop Metal Gear, but if anyone knows, it's him."

"...name sounds familiar. I think I've read it somewhere."

"His father began work on the original Metal Gears around 40 years ago. In any case, if he doesn' have another way to stop the launch, he'll know how to destroy it. He'll be held somewhere in the Nuclear Warhead Storage Building to the north."

"Got it." He almost turned to leave, but instead decided to further inquire. "Why Metal Gear? Didn't the nuclear age end a few years ago? And I thought we had cooled down on DNAT advances."

"Not at all." He coughed violently again. "The threat of a nuclear war is greater than it's ever been. The amount of spent nuclear fuel and plutonium increases every day. And DNAT testing goes deeper and deeper, finding new ways to create the most destruction possible. You should see this warehouse. Drums of waste stacked as high as this ceiling. We don't have a way to dispose of the stuff, so we just close the lid and pretend it'll go away. Hell, most of the drums corroded and leak over time."

"Unbelievable."

"And several pounds of MUF are reported every year." He saw the look of confusion on Snake's face. "Material Unaccounted For. There's a large black market for nuclear materials. And, since the end of the cold war, nuclear scientists and engineers from Buffet, Server, File Island and everywhere else have nowhere to turn. In other words, any small country in this world can have a nuclear weapons program these days. All you need is to acquire some of the MUF and find a disgruntled scientist."

Though Snake had never seen, he had read stories about 'Earth' or so they called it. Sometimes they called it 'The Real World' but that was rather offensive to the Digital World. It was sickeningly like Deja Vu. "And the superpowers?"

"Oh, they maintain large nuclear presences. We can't hope to disarm everything, it's impossible. So to maintain our policy of deterrance, we needed a weapon of overwhelming power. Or Metal Gear." He looked over at Patamon, apperantly still slightly amused by the flying orange puff ball. Obviously, he wasn't too familiar with digimon. "Our industry has suffered blows from this age of peace. After we lost our bid to make the next fighter jet, this Metal Gear was our last ace in the hole. If it didn't pan out, we'd go under. So we pushed to have it developed as a black project."

"Black project?"

"Secret projects paid for by the SFS's black budget. You avoid alot of red tape and get great lead-time. And no one can bother you, not even those bleeding heart liberals on the military oversight committee. We've done some DNAT testing here that would make your head spin. Well beyond the scope of anything you know of."

Snake kept his response to one word. "Bribes."

"I prefer to think of it as good business. Anyway, Metal Gear was about to be formally adopted after this excercise." He reached up his shirt and felt around on his chest. He hit a couple of points on it, and suddenly retched out a glop of stomach acid. He coughed hard as it flew out. Snake looked down at it, almost pulling back, before realizing among the glop was an optical disc. "Here." He got out through his coughs.

"What's that?"

"It's all here. This is what you came for, right? The only remaining copy of the data."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, this is the data collected from the excercise. It's what you came for, I know it. Jim will want to get it." He reached down his pantleg, feeling around, until he came up with a microdot. He handed it to Snake. "PAN. Latest technology. Opens level 2 doors. Stick it on your body and it reads it through your bodies' electronic field."

Snake carefully stuck it on his body, thinking he might not be able to locate it again it was so small. He pocketed the disk as well.

"Now you go on ahead. I can't walk. They won't want anything from me now anyway."

"What about that ninja? It looked like you knew something."

He coughed again. "FOX-HOUND's dark little secret. Experimental genome soldier. Ask...ermm...Dr. Naomi Hunter, she knows better than I. You know of her?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, you've got to stop them. If this goes public, my company and I are finished."

"What? Why? Doesn't Metal Gear have approval from Server to be built and use currently existing technology?"

"Metal Gear itself does, but-"

Suddenly, his head rotated up towards the ceiling and he started to scream. He began to spasm wildly, rolling over onto his knees, trying to crawl away again. "What?! What did you do to me?! Uhhh! No! It can't be, those SFS bastards! They actually-" he collasped on the ground "-did it! They did it!" He was shaking faster and faster, coughing hard.

"What are you talking about?!" Snake demanded, running up to him and trying to calm him down.

"They're just using you for...uuuuhhhh..." he fell over, going rigid. Snake felt his pulse. Nothing. Dead, just as Anderson had died.

"What the hell?" He patched into Campbell's codec, beginning a transmission.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Meryl

"Colonel, now he's dead too!" He yelled, nevermind he could whisper or merely think his transmission and it would be picked up all the same. "Are you listening?!"

"...I have no idea what's going on."

"Don't lie to me!" He roared, really feeling out of the loop.

Naomi stepped in. "It looked like another heart attack, but...we won't be able to tell without doing a full autopsy."

"Damn!" He kicked the corpse of Baker, for all the good it would do.

"Look, Snake. I want you and Meryl to work together. And that Gatomon too, ally with them. Gives you your best chance to succeed."

"...can I trust her?" He replyed, calming down. He had to keep cool, and believe Campbell. He had to believe in something, in any case, and he had nothing else.

"More than you can trust me. Get in contact with her."

"Naomi. What the hell was that ninja thing?"

No reply.

"A member of FOX-HOUND? Answer me!"

"...no. We have no one like that in our unit." She finally responded.

"Is that right?"

"Snake, please keep moving, I'm counting on you." The transmission cut, leaving Snake to ponder on his own the questions that flooded his mind. He began walking back through the hallway, chaffing the camera, walking back into the main B2 room.

"Alright, let's see about this Meryl." He flipped over to the correct channel and sent a transmission over the frequency.

"Who are you?" Came the voice back through.

"I was really impressed with the way you busted yourself out of there." Snake began the conversation rather awkwardly. But that's the kind of guy he was.

"...you're the one from the prison?"

"And you're the colonel's niece, Meryl, right?"

"...no, you're not Liquid...who are you?"

"The fool your uncle sent into this whole mess."

"By yourself? What are you, some kind of one-man army?"

"Almost." He looked up at Patamon. "I've got a partner with me, inseperable that we are. You saw him, didn't you?"

"Oh yeah, him. But still, are you insane?"

"I don't need lectures. You're just like your uncle, you know."

"How do you know my uncle?"

"We go way back."

"What's your name?"

He looked around, as if wondering if anyone was around to listen. Not that it mattered given his answer. "My name isn't important."

"Aha! Could you be Snake? The other one? Solid Snake? The legend?"

"...that's what some people call me."

"Sorry about before, I wasn't sure if you were one of the good guys."

"But I knew you were. It's your eyes. Not soldier eyes."

"Rookies eyes, right?"

"No, beautiful, compassionate eyes." Patamon whapped him on the head with his wing after this comment.

"Just what I'd expect from the legendary Solid Snake. Trying to sweep me off my feet?"

"I'm afraid the legend is no match for reality. Once you meet me, you'll land back on your feet. Anyway, why did you look so suprised when you saw my face?"

"Well, you look just like him. The terrorist's leader, that is. Liquid Snake. You're not brothers, are you?"

He looked around again before deciding on an answer. "I have no family." He lied. "I don't know why we look so similar. You'd have to ask him. Look, I need information. What exactly happened here?"

"Sorry, I was captured too early to find out much. You know about the...secret operations taking place here I assume?"

"Metal Gear, right? Why was FOX-HOUND called here in the first place?"

"FOX-HOUND was to try and help keep it all hush-hush, since they're used to handling top secret missions."

"But we've fired nuclear warheads and used deadly DNAT weapons before, why this time?"

"This was supposed to be the final test before the formal adoption of this project. Or that's what I heard, at any rate."

"Hmmm...sounds fishy. Oh yeah, do you have those detonation override keys? Baker said he gave them to you."

"Yep."

"Amazing you kept them hidden from the guards like that."

"Well...let's just say women have more hiding places than men. How's Baker holding up anyway?"

"...he's dead. Heart attack, same as the DARPA chief." He threw in quickly before she started suspecting him all over again.

"They both died from a heart attack?"

"Apperantly. But I don't believe in coincidences. Something funny's going on. Do you know the person who designed rex?"

"Dr. Izumi?"

"Yes, is he still alive?"

"I'm not sure, but I think so. They need him to keep working on metal gear until they're ready to launch. He should be in B2 of the warhead storage building to the north."

"So they'll need him alive until that's done. We better do something before he finishes. In case we can't override the detonation code in time, I need to ask him how to destroy Metal Gear."

"You'd take that...thing...on by yourself?"

"Not quite." He looked up at Patamon. "Besides, it won't be the first time. What's the best way to the storage facility?"

"There's a cargo door on the first floor of this building, that leads out to it. It's level five security, but I've got level five access. Was on that guard I took out earlier. I'll open it up."

"Alright. I'll head up there. Once you open the door, go hid-"

"I'm going with you!"

Snake sighed. He thought this might be coming. "No." He said firmly. "You're still too green. Go hide somewhere."

"I'm not green!"

"Oh yes you are. You pause for just one second in front of your enemy, and it's all over! Good luck doesn't last forever."

A pause. "I...I don't know what happened. I just couldn't pull the trigger. In training, sure...but I thought about my bullets tearing through their bodies, and hesitated."

"Shooting at targets and shooting at living people are different."

"I've dreamed of being a soldier since I was a little girl. Every day of my life, I've trained myself for real action I knew I'd see one day...and now..."

"So what now? You wanna quit?"

"I can't allow myself to quit now."

"Listen. Everyone feels sick the first time they kill someone. It's one of those things that becomes easier the more you do it, unfortunately. In war, all of mankind's worst emotions and traits come out. It's easy to forget what a sin is in the middle of a battlefield. You're just jumpy from the combat high, the adrenaline in your blood should be starting to thin out. Take it easy. We'll talk about it more later. Just keep yourself alive."

"If I get out of here alive, i'll think about that other stuff."

"Also...stay the hell out of my way."

"You're a real bastard, just like my uncle said."

"See? The real me can't match the legend."

"Okay, Snake. I'll be a good girl."

"After I get the doctor, we'll link up and take care of that override." He stepped into the elevator, slapping the button labeled '1'. The doors slid shut and the capsule rocketed up to ground level.

"Be careful." Snake muttered as the elevator slowed to a halt at the top. "I'm sure they discovered the bodies by now."

"I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no." Patamon said flatly, out of nowhere.

"What?"

The doors slid open, revealing...nothing. No guards. They ran and ducked for cover under the tank, waiting.

"I'm having nothing to do with that Gatomon." Patamon whispered.

"Why? I don't understand you and your...anti-social stance on life. Your father was quite a player I understood, the apple sure as hell fell far from the tree."

In reality, Patamon wanted nothing to do with anything that would bring Snake and Meryl closer together. Under other circumstances, he might have been more than willing to, but there was a greater motive he had to consider.

"It wouldn't kill you to make a friend here and there." The cargo door slowly slid up, revealing a chamber with another large door at the other end. Snake peered out from his cover, seeing Meryl standing in her enemy disguise next to it.

"Snake, I opened the door."

"I see. What about the door on the other side?"

"I'm taking the security down on it." She walked into the chamber and fiddled with a circuit box on the wall. "Okay, go ahead."

"Be careful. Your disguise won't hold up for long with the way you walk."

She laughed. "Listen, the cargo door is an airlock. They put in infrared sensors, if you trip them, gas is released. So, we'll meet at the NWSB."

"Wait! You said you'd stay put and be a good girl!"

"I changed my mind."

Snake considered arguing, but realized it was futile. So he settled for giving some advice. "Don't get careless."

"Sorry, but I have to figure out if I'm cut out for being a soldier. Gotta get my hands dirty."

"You're gonna get yourself killed." He said warningly. It was only fair to let her know.

She ignored him. "See ya!" The transmission was cut, and Snake saw her run through the airlock, dodging the sensors. He crawled out from under the tank.

"Alright. If she dies, it's not my problem. Let's go." He walked towards the chamber, Patamon following, a smile on his face from the sudden indifference to her fate from Snake.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Of Ravens and Foxes

Snake walked into the chamber. He saw the slots in the walls where the sensors would go up and down vertically throughout the room. He stopped in front of the first one, trying to see the laser beams to no avail. Slowly, he flipped open his cigarette box and pulled out his lighter.

"Snake...please." Campbell moaned into his ear. "Please, not now." He wasn't ordering. It was more like...begging. But no matter.

"Watch and learn, Campbell." He lit the tip and began to blow smoke into the chamber, revealing the lasers as they passed through the cloud. He timed the first laser by judging it's speed when he was able to see it through the smoke, then stepped through when he knew it was at the top of it's trajectory. He repeated this through four more of the beams, Patamon clinging onto the back of him, until they were through. "Just like a video game."

"You could have just used the thermal goggles." Campbell grumbled.

"But that doesn't satisfy any cravings." He spiked the butt of his cigarette after it burned through, crushing it with his foot. "See? You never know."

The door slowly rose, revealing a snow covered outside area. In the distance ahead, he saw the warhead storage building. He stepped out into the snow, crunching it under his boots, when his codec went off again.

"Snake!" Came a strange scratchy voice he couldn't identify. "There are claymore mines in that snowfield! Use a mine detector or thermal goggles to see them."

"Who are you?"

"Just call me "Deepthroat"."

His first thought was that it sounded like a name from a porno. But then, he remembered reading about something about the real world...some history. "The informant from the Watergate scandal?" He recalled out loud.

"Never mind about that."

"Are you nearby?"

"Listen. There's a tank in front of your position, waiting to ambush you."

"Who are you?" He persisted, putting the tank on the backburner.

"One of your fans." And the transmission cut. So Snake was left to consider the two important bits of information he had just been given. He flipped on his thermals, and saw the heat emitting from the mines all over the snowfield. He began weaving through the mines, careful not to step on or in front of any of the sensors. Patamon stood on his head so he didn't trip anything either. Both were on the lookout for this tank as well.

When they got about halfway through the minefield, a door up ahead opened slowly. A tank rolled out through the snow, stopping some 40 feet from Snake.

"This is Raven's territory..." came a voice from the tank. Strangely loud, as the tone was rather calm and quite. A gigantic man popped out from the hatch of the tank, and grabbed a machine gun turret awaiting him on the top of tank. "Snake's don't belong here. I will not let you pass."

A shell fired from the cannon on the top of the tank, right at Snake. He jumped backwards, carefully remembering the placement of the mines as he did so, landing hard on the snow where he remembered there wasn't a mine. The shell exploded in front of him as he hurriedly backed away from the explosion. The mines close to it exploded as well.

"Now..." the giant ducked back down into the tank, shutting the top hatch. "Let's fight!" The tank began rolling forward.

Snake realized fighting a tank in a minefield couldn't end well, so he began shooting every mine in the surrounding area, blowing them up harmlessly away from him. The tank began firing it's machine gun turret in his direction. He leapt behind a rock to his right, feeling the force of a shell from the tank hit the other side of it.

He looked at Patamon and nodded. On cue, Patamon digivolved up and flew out in his angelic form. The tank began turning his fire on him, allowing Snake to run out the other side. Angemon attacked the tank full force, while Snake was moving to sneak up behind it. On the way, he bent down and carefully disarmed a mine, picking it up out of the snow. He cautiously walked up to the tank, which was focusing on the angel of death hovering above it, attacking wildly.

Snake ran up to the tank, still not noticing him, armed the mine, and quickly threw it on top of the tank. Angemon set off the explosion by attacking the mine. The combined force of the mine and the hand of fate blew the hatch door off. A genome soldier climbed out of the tank, reaching for his pistol, tumbling off the tank right at Snake's feet. Snake kicked him hard in the head twice, and he fell over, unconscious. He began to search his body, feeling his skin everywhere that made sense, until he found a PAN patch. Level three. He attached it, looking up at the tank, deciding he'd rather not deal with this giant right now. Hoping he could get away before the big boy could squeeze out of the tank, he ran towards the door to the north.

"Well boss. I hope you are happy. He got the patch, on his way through the facility now.

A radio crackled to life. A english accent began emitting from the speaker in the tank. "We'll play with him a little longer."

"You would be wise not to underestimate him. I think it would have been wise to just let me kill him."

"Really? You thought highly of him, then?"

"Just as you said. In battle, he is as if possessed by a demon. Just like you. I would expect no less."

Ken's voice crackled through this time. "Yes. I thought as much. But I will kill him."

"I hear he took your hand and dignity."

"Watch your tongue, Shaman! Snake is mine now, when we meet next, I'll take special care of him."

"Not yet...don't kill him yet..." came the english accent again.

"He and I will meet again in battle." The giant said slowly.

"Same prediction as always?" Ken dared to ask.

The giant smiled. "But of course."

------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Snake and Patamon were heading down a long metallic hallway towards a large door at the end. Snake kept looking behind him, afraid that the giant-apperantly Vulcan Raven-might be following. Patamon hadn't digivolved in some time, and it felt good to get back into action again like that. He was flexing his wings as he flew along.

"Now that's what i'm talking about!" He cried.

"Shh!" Snake suggested as they stepped up to the giant door. "I don't like this...Vulcan Raven just sat in that tank, like he didn't even care I was going by. Something's not right."

"Well, don't complain, who knows where we'd be now if he wasn't so lazy."

The door slid open, revealing piles of barrels and drums stacked against the walls everywhere. Guards patrolled around the room, FA-MAS's at the ready.

"Snake, whatever you do, don't fire you're weapon in that room!" Campbell yelled into his ear. Snake and Patamon took cover next to some crates. "Patamon, you don't attack either. No matter what!"

"What?! Why?"

"That room is filled with disposed nuclear warheads."

"I see alot of boxes in here...they're all warheads? Just like President Baker said...totally careless."

"The warheads won't explode, but if a warhead is broken it might leak, and that would be a serious problem. Also, it seems the sentries in there aren't going to be as cautious, so you'll have to sneak through."

They began to sneak around the left wall carefully, keeping an eye on sentries as they passed by. He was generally able to hide in a shadow whenever one came by, but they got too close for comfort more than once. After reaching the wall, they headed up a staircase, maintaining a good level of silence inspite of the metallic walkway at the top of the staircase.

They got around to the back, where an elevator awaited. He hit the button and waited impatiently, afraid the beeping and the door sliding open might attract attention.

But to his suprise, the doors slid open without a sound, and he managed to hit the B2 button and begin the descent downwards without attracting attention. And to be honest, he wasn't happy about it.

"These guards are supposed to have an IQ of 180. And they're just...letting an elevator open and close without even looking at it? Something isn't right."

"Can you stop complaining for just a second? If they did see us, we might not be standing here talking about it."

The doors slid open to reveal what appeared to be an airlock room. Snake and Patamon walked into it, and the door slid shut. As soon as the door in front of them opened when they walked up to it, they could smell gas. They jumped out of the sensor's path, allowing the door to close, then back into the room outside the airlock.

"Damn!" He looked around the small room, thinking.

His codec went off. "Snake! Watch out! That place is filled with gas." _Oh, no shit. _"And the floor is electrified. Destroy the switchboard on the northwest wall to kill the floor." It was deepthroat again.

"...how?"

"Use a remote control missile. Once you're in the gas chamber, the first door to your left has a pair of gas masks."

"Wait! Why are you helping me?!" But no response came. "Dammit." He didn't like the idea of taking advice from some person he didn't even know, but he didn't have much of a choice. "Where can I get a remote control missile?"

Suddenly, the elevator behind them slid open, a rocket launcher sitting in the middle of it. Carefully, Snake walked up to it, snatching it after a quick inspection.

"Colonel, who is this deepthroat?" He demanded. "He seems intent on helping me get through."

"He's not one of ours. I think he must be transmitting from very close by. Be careful."

"Right." He quickly dashed through the airlock and fired the launcher down the hallway. He ran back out, and began using the joystick on the back of the launcher to steer it.

Nothing to it. It turned it right twice, through an office, into a engineering room, and hit the switchboard. The floor crackled as the electrical current running through it died.

Snake took several gulps of air, then dashed into the gas filled hallway. The door to his left slid open, and he quickly grabbed the two gas masks before running back out.

"Snake." Patamon began. "That ninja did look an awful lot like-"

Snake shot a warning look at Patamon before donning his gas mask. Patamon decided to hold his silence for the moment, putting his on. They'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

They walked through the chamber, the lethal gas being filtered out through the mask before it went into their lungs. They chaffed a few cameras down the hall before heading left through a door. Another airlock purged the gas away into the next area. Another boring, dull, gray hallway.

Well, not quite. This one was littered with the bodies and blood of genome soldiers. Up ahead around a turn, he heard screaming and gunfire. He bent down in a ready to fight position, slowly proceeding ahead. He checked the first corpse he came up to.

"Cut by...a blade." He examined the wound across his body. Patamon checked another one.

"This one too."

"All of them."

A guard stumbled around the corner. Snake drew his pistol, leveling it at him. The guard, however, was already bleeding profusely. "It's a ghost...uuurgh..." he managed before falling to the floor, dead.

Snake cautiously ran ahead, and peeked around the corner. Another genome soldier stood, looking around wildly, firing in all directions. Suddenly, he was picked up by the collar by seemingly thin air. Then Snake saw a slight haze in the air right under the guard. The ninja. The guard's legs were severed from his torso, the two parts dropping to the ground, leaving him to bleed to death. The hazey figure walked through a doorway at the end of the hall, taking no notice of Snake.

When the guard stopped moving completely, Snake and Patamon dared to move forward. The door's security system had been destroyed by gunfire, meaning it would slide open once any motion was detected. It slid open, revealing a lab.

But much more than that. The hazed figure was slowly walking towards a man, who had fallen on the ground and was backing away into a corner. Judging by his lab coat, this must have been Hal Izumi. Snake quickly ran into the room, leveling his gun at the cloaked ninja.

"S-Stealth camouflauge? Who are you?" Hal asked, curling up in the corner of the lab. The cloak blinked off, revealing a cyborg ninja, katana and all. The scientist wet his pants at the shock of all of this.

"Where is my friend?" The ninja demanded of the scientist, in a voice that Snake suddenly connected with the one that had given him advice under the name deepthroat.

"What are you talking about?" Hal turned his head and saw Snake approaching, gun out. "What next?" He moaned.

The ninja slowly turned to face Snake. "Snake." He slowly hissed.

"You're that ninja." He kept his pistol trained on him.

"I've been waiting for you."

"Who are you?" He was beginning to think he already knew, which terrified him.

"Neither enemy nor friend. I am back from a world where such words are meaningless. Now, you and I will battle to the death. I've waited a long time for this day...now I want to enjoy the moment."

"What's with these guys? It's like my japanese animes." The scientist on the ground commented.

"I've come from another world to do battle with you."

Snake had to fight to not roll his eyes. Even if his suspicion was right, it still sounded so...corny. "What? Revenge?"

"Nothing so trivial as revenge. Only in a fight to the death with you can my soul find respite. I will kill you. Or you will kill me. It makes no difference."

Suddenly, the scientist jumped up and ran inside a nearby locker, shutting the door, peering out through the slats at the top.

"Fine. He can watch from inside there."

"I need that man. Keep your hands off of him."

"Now, Snake. Make me feel alive again!" He held out his katana. Snake immediately began unloading his pistol at him, for all the good it did, as every bullet was harmlessly deflected away by the sword.

Patamon made to fly in at the ninja, but Snake grabbed him. "No." He commanded simply. He set his SOCOM down on the table next to him, and took up a fighting position. "I think...stay out of this." He settled for. Patamon flew up to the ceiling, looking down on the fight about to commence, ready to jump in just in case. He had some idea what Snake was thinking, and if they were right, it would be better to allow them to fight one on one.

"Ah yes. Now we can fight one on one, hand to hand. It is the basis of all combat." He set down his katana and slid it across the room. "Only a fool trusts his life to a weapon."

He charged in, Snake neatly sidestepped, tripping the ninja up as he passed and grabbed his arm, flipping him down. But the ninja merely went around 360 degrees and landed on his feet, kicking out at Snake, who backed off just far enough to avoid it. Snake gave a uppercut, which hurt, as the ninja wore a very strong exoskeleton, but it did manage to knock his head back a bit. Which led into Snake's next move, sticking his foot inbetween his legs and pulling back to trip him up, well.

The battle went on for some time, neither managing to do much damage to each other, thanks in part due to the great talent of both of them and their outfits which gave them alot of leeway in taking injuries.

Snake managed to figure out the best way to go was to slam the ninja through glass panels that stood around the room, separating parts of the room from others. He finally managed to slam him hard into a switchboard on the wall, sending electrical currents through his body, shocking him and sending him kneeling to the ground.

"I felt that, Snake...do you remember me know?" He asked as he rose back into a fighting stance.

Snake's eyes flew wide open. It had to be...and yet it couldn't. "It can't be! You were killed in Zanzibar!" He yelled as the ninja ran in, his punch neatly caught by his palm. Snake flipped over a desk, still looking in disbelief at the cyborg ninja.

Suddenly, just as before, the ninja began to convulse wildly. "Eeeeyyyaaaahhhh!" He screamed, falling to the ground. "The...the mediciiiiinneee!"

"What the hell?!" Snake yelled as the ninja began to bang his head repeatedly into the ground.

"I'm...losing...myself!" He moaned, managing to push himself back up. He jumped to the other side of the room, grabbing his katana, and then flipped out the door before Snake or Patamon could do anything.

"Is...is it over?" Came the voice from the locker. But Snake had no time for the cowardly scientist. He activated his codec.

"Colonel!" He yelled. "Colonel! That ninja...deepthroat..." he took a deep breath. "that ninja is Gray Fox!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Otaku Convention

"No doubt about it." He finished.

"Ridiculous! You of all people should know he died in Zanzibar, by your hand!" Campbell insisted.

"No." Naomi interjected into the conversation. "He should have died...but he didn't."

"What?!"

"It happened before I joined FOX-HOUND's medical staff. They were using a soldier for their gene therapy experiments. Right after you retired, colonel. My predecessor, Dr. Clark, was in charge."

"Dr. Clark..."

"Yes. He started the gene therapy project."

"Where is he now?"

"He was killed by an explosion in his lab two years ago."

"And this soldier?"

"Apperantly, they decided they'd use the body of a soldier who was recovered after the fall of Zanzibar for their test subject. Gray Fox."

"But he was already dead..." Campbell insisted.

"Yes. But they revived him."

Snake blinked. He wasn't aware that bringing people back from the dead was possible.

"Well, in a sense. They fitted him with that prototype exoskeleton and kept him drugged for four years while they experimented on him like a plaything. Today's genome soldiers were born from those experiments."

"That's the sickest thing I ever heard."

"They used him to test all sorts of gene therapy techniques."

Snake looked around the room, at the locker where the terrified scientist still hid. "Why didn't you tell us about this sooner, Naomi?"

"It's confidential information."

"Is that the only reason?" No response. "Okay, what happened to Gray Fox after that?"

"The record says he died in the explosion that killed Dr. Clark."

"I see. But even if Snake is right, and that ninja is Gray Fox, the question is why?"

"I don't think he knew who he was."

"So you're saying he's a mindless robot?"

"I'm not sure, but he seems to want to fight me to the death. We'll meet again, I know it."

"And you'll kill him?" Naomi asked timidly.

"..well, I'd rather not. But maybe it's what he wants."

He ended the transmission and walked over to the locker. Patamon descended down next to him.

"How long are you going to stay in there?"

"...are you one of them?"

"No. I work alone. Always."

"Are you an Otaku?"

Snake blinked, wondering what an Otaku might be. "C'mon, get out. We can't stay here forever." He pulled the door open and the scientist fell out. He looked Snake over, then Patamon.

"Your uniform is different from theirs. And you have a partner."

"You're the chief engineer, Hal Izumi, right?"

"You know me?"

"I heard about you from Meryl."

"So you're hear to rescue me?"

"Sorry, but no. I've got to do something first. I need some information about Metal Gear."

"Metal Gear? Well, alright..." he started walking across the room, Snake noticed he was limping badly. He noticed Snake looking at his leg. "Oh, I'll be okay. I just twisted it a bit trying to get away. Well, Metal Gear is a mobile TMD. Designed to shoot down nuclear missiles for defensive purposes."

Snake's eyes flashed. "I already know for a fact Metal Gear is a nuclear-equipped, walking death mobile, no use lying to me."

"Sorry, but...I don't know what you're talking about."

"The terrorists are planning to use Metal Gear to launch a nuclear missile. Are you telling me you didn't know? That was the whole purpose of this exercise from the beginning, to test Metal Gear's nuclear launch capabilities with a dummy warhead. The terrorists are just finishing the work you started."

"They're putting a nuclear missile into Metal Gear's TMD missile module...?"

"Again, Metal Gear was never meant for defensive purposes. I heard it directly from your boss, Baker. You really didn't know?"

"No. All the armament was built by a seperate department. I was never told exactly what Rex is armed with. I just know it has a Vulcan Cannon, Laser, and a Rail Gun."

"Well that's nothing." Snake rolled his eyes. "But the main function of Metal Gear is to launch nuclear weapons, and should contain the latest in DNAT weaponry. Are you sure you're not forgetting something?"

"Well, it does have a missile module on it's back that has a capacity of 8 missiles. But I didn't know it was originally meant to carry nuclear missiles. And I don't know anything about DNAT weaponry on Metal Gear."

"Yes. Also, if Metal Gear only fired standard nuclear missiles, they should have all the practical data they need. This missile must be special somehow."

Hal sat down on one of the desk chairs, thinking. His eyes flew wide open. "Oh no."

"What?!"

"Rivermore National Labs, Metal Gear's co-developer, was working on some new kind of nuclear weapon. They were using NOVA and NIF laser nuclear fusion testing equipment and supercomputers. But it was only developed in a VR testing lab, they would need actual launch data to be sure about anything." He pointed at large monitors all around the room. "Using these computers, you can test everything in a virtual enviroment. But it's all just theoretical."

"It fits. This exercise was supposed to actually test this new weapon. You know any details?"

"No...but...oh god. What did our president do?" He slipped off the chair and began banging the ground with his first. "If they launch that thing...Damn!" He repeatedly pounded his first into the concrete ground. "I'm such a fool...it's all my fault!"

He stopped pounding, and looked up at Snake. "You see...my father was part of the original Metal Gear project. He thought it could be used for the good of mankind. He still suffers with the guilt today, and will for the rest of his life. Every day, he lives in shame over the monster he's created. I swore I wouldn't go down that path...but now look at me. I fell for it, just like him. My bloodline must have the curse of nuclear weapons written into our DNA."

"Enough crying." He went over to Hal and picked him up off the ground, trying to comfort him, though he didn't really have much of a grasp of how to do such a thing. "Pull yourself together!"

"I wanted to use science to help mankind. But that only happens in the movies..."

"Where is Rex stored?" He rapidly changed the subject, trying to get him out of this self-loathing mentality.

"The underground maintainence base to the north. Past the communications tower."

"And the emergency override for the detonation code?"

"It's in the control room of the base. If you're going to stop it, you better hurry. If they've been planning to from the start, they must be almost ready to launch. And they haven't called me in a few hours, so they must not need me anymore."

"Yeah. Meryl's got the detonation keys, so I have to meet up with her." He looked down at Hal's leg. "You find somewhere to hide, with that leg you'll slow me down."

"You'll need me if you're gonna destroy Rex. If we can't override the launch that's the only option left."

"Just your brain. Try and escape the island and I'll try and contact you by codec."

"This is an island, you can't escape from it."

"Okay. Find somewhere to hide and we'll stay in touch."

"Alright." He reached up to his shoulder and tapped it. He disappeared, seemingly into thin air. Then Snake noticed the slight haze of the area where he had just been. "I've got this, so i'll be fine. Same technology as the ninja. FOX-HOUND was gonna use it, but...well yeah." He turned it off, appearing back as he was.

"Alright. But I want Meryl to look after you too."

He patched into her frequency. "Meryl, Izumi's okay. I want you to look after him. He's hurt and needs to hide. Where are you?"

"That's a relief. I'm very close by, B1-dammit! They've spotted me!" The connection suddenly cut.

"Meryl! What happened?" No response, as he was yelling into a dead connection. "Dammit." He looked at Hal. "Don't worry, she's tough. She'll be okay. But I need to find a way to contact her when she's alone. And she needs to stop giving herself away by walking like that."

"You were really looking, eh?"

"Well, she's got a very cute behind." Patamon smacked him upside the head again.

"Well, there's only one place we can be sure she can meet you alone."

"Where's that?"

Hal sighed. "Don't be so dense." He reached into his lab coat and pulled out a tiny patch. "Here. Security Level 4. If you don't already have it, you'll need it."

"I don't. Thanks." He grabbed it, then stepped back and took a long look at Hal. "You feel okay? You're not in pain are you?"

"Huh? Getting friendly all of a sudden?"

"Oh...nothing. Just glad you're okay. I'm a little nervous to be honest. Everyone else I've saved so far has died."

"Bad luck?"

Don't worry about it, Doctor."

"Call me Otacon."

"Otacon?"

"Stands for Otaku Convention. An Otaku is a guy who likes Japanimation, like me." He looked up at the ceiling. "Japan's produced some great stuff. You know of the place? In the real world."

"I've heard of it."

"They were the first country to make Bipedal Robots. Japanese cartoons played a part in that. I got into science because I wanted to build robots. Not to make nuclear weapons."

"That's what they all say. Sounds like an excuse to me."

"You're right. I have to take responsibility. But I won't take part in murder any more. It's all over." He activated his stealth camoflauge and walked off slowly. "My frequency's 141.12, keep in touch."

He nodded, and headed out the door from which he entered. Back through the blood stained hallway. Ominous. He donned the gas mask, along with Patamon, and they made a dash back through the gassed hallway, back to the elevator.

"Alright. Let's try B1. Hopefully Meryl got out okay." The capsule slid up the shaft, and the doors opened to reveal a brown-finally some variety-room. A door stood across from them, leading into a computer room, and to the left and right gender specific bathrooms. Feeling slightly awkward, he forced his way into the woman's bathroom, reversing the gender reading sensor projecting from the door by flipping a set of wires in the sensor. The door slid open, and he cautiously stepped in. He'd never hear the end of this from his buddies if this got out. Then he remembered he didn't have any buddies. Oh well. All the better.

He walked through the stalls, opening each one as he walked by, checking for anything out of the ordinary. The last one contained a genome soldier's costume, splayed out on the toilet.

He turned around and found himself looking down the barrel of a FA-MAS, pointed by Meryl, for the second time that day. She put it down. "That's the second time I've managed to sneak up on the legendary Solid Snake."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Life and Death

Snake risked a smile, looking her over. "So, you're Meryl." He looked over her breasts. "No way you could pass as a man for long." Gatomon flipped down from a vent above, landing next to her master, looking suspiciously at Patamon and Snake.

"What do you mean? You know men aren't allowed in here, right?"

"I had no idea you were so feminine." He cocked his head to the right.

"This is no time to try and hit on me, Snake. And it's a waste of time, when I joined up they gave me psychotherapy to destroy my interest in men."

"Same smart mouth. You're Meryl alright. You hurt? That cut transmission scared me."

"I was fine. I was disguised, remember? They caught me making that transmission to you, but otherwise I was fine. Well, almost...for some reason they kept looking at me oddly."

"You should keep it on."

"I'm tired of disguising myself. And the uniform...well, it smells like blood."

Snake looked at her arm and saw a familiar tattoo. "What's that?"

"Oh, it's a paint tattoo. FOX-HOUND's old logo, I was a big fan back in the day. When guys like you and my uncle were in it. None of that gene therapy stuff. You guys were real heroes."

Snake looked back at the door of the bathroom, as if he didn't want anyone to hear what they were about to say. Not that there was anyone who would eavesdrop on them, but it was a reflex. "No." He turned back to Meryl. "There are no heroes in war. All the heroes I know or either dead or in prison."

"You're a hero? Aren't you?"

"Sorry, but I'm just a man who's good at what he does. Killing. There's no winning or losing for a mercenary. The only people who win in wars are the people."

"And you fight for the people, right?"

"I've never fought for anything but myself. I've got no purpose in life."

"Oh, come on. That can't be true."

"I only feel alive when I'm cheating death on a battlefield. A man told me that six years ago, told me it's all I lived for. I spent the last six years trying to prove him wrong. But I couldn't."

"So, seeing other people die makes you feel alive? You love war and don't want it to stop? Is it the same for all great soldiers throughout history?"

Snake looked down at the ground. How would he know? He decided to settle for ignoring her for the moment. "Why didn't you contact me?"

"My codec broke." She held out a small electronic box, dented. "Some soldier clipped it with his gun. I don't understand how they were able to tell through my disguise."

"Easy." He looked down at her lower region. "You've got a great butt." Patamon headbutted him in the back of the head at this.

"Oh I see. First it's my eyes, now it's my butt. What's next?"

"This is the battlefield. Can't ever think about what's next."

"You happen to know how the negotiations are going?"

"I haven't gotten any updates, so I'd guess no progress. So I'm guessing it's all up to me. You got the card keys from Baker?"

"Erm.." she reached into her shirt, pulling out a card key. "_Key_. You mean this?"

"Where are the others? There are supposed to be three."

"Baker only gave me one." She shrugged, handing it to him.

Snake took it, looking at it. "If we can't find them, we won't have a choice but to destroy Metal Gear." He turned to leave. "I'm heading to the maintenance base to the north, where Metal Gear is."

"Take me too. I know this place better than you do."

Snake thought this might be coming. "You'll just slow me down." He said dismissively, turning back to her. "You don't have the experience."

"I won't slow you down, I promise."

He walked back up to her, taking big strides, stopping just before you. "And what if you do?"

She glanced over at the wall, thinking. "Then you can shoot me."

Snake considered her. "I don't like to waste bullets." He grumbled. Well aware his gun ran off a battery and could probably last weeks.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." She looked in the mirror on the wall. "You know...I've always dreamed of becoming a soldier. But I think I was wrong. It wasn't my dream. You see, my father was killed in action when I was younger."

"You want to follow in his footsteps?"

"Not quite. I thought if I became a soldier I could understand him better."

"So, are you a soldier yet?"

"I thought I was until today. But now I understand." She walked up closer to the mirror. "I was just afraid of looking at myself, afraid of making my own decisions in life. I think it's time I stopped lieing to myself...I want to know who I really am and what i'm capable of. I want to know why I've lived how I've lived to this point."

"Well, take a good look. You won't get another chance for awhile. This isn't a training exercise, our lives are riding on this. If you lose, you're worm food."

She nodded. Snake looked over at her FAMAS on the ground. "Is that functional?"

"It's out of ammo. But I've got this, found it in the armory." She pulled out a desert eagle. ".50 caliber action express."

"Isn't that gun a little big for a girl?"

"Don't worry, I can handle it."

He held out his SOCOM. "C'mon. I'll wipe the print reader on my SOCOM and you can take it. It's easier. Let's trade."

"Listen, I've used a gun like this since I was 8. I'm more comfortable with it then I am a bra." Snake shrugged, relenting. "The overland route to Metal Gear is blocked by glaciers right now. To get through the other path we need to go through the commander's room." She reached into her pants pocket. "I got this off the uniform I stole. Level 5 access." She handed it to Snake.

"Alright, let's go."

They stepped outside of the bathroom, cautiously peering around.

"Strange...their's no guard." They cautiously proceeded ahead, back towards the elevator, past it, and down a corridor leading to an official looking door.

They came up to it, and Meryl made to open it when she suddenly grabbed her head and fell to the floor.

"My head! ...Ooh. It hurts!" She began shaking it back and forth. Snake went up to her, looking down at her.

"What's wrong?"

"No! Don't come here!" She held out her palm towards him. Gatomon put her hand up on her head, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Are you okay?!"

Slowly, she stood back up. Her hands fell back to her sides. "I'm fine. Let's go." Her voice sounded odd. Warped slightly. She motioned towards the door. "C'mon Mr. FOXHOUND. The commander is waiting."

Snake looked at her oddly, then walked past her into the commander's room. Patamon, Meryl, and Gatomon followed. He scanned the room. A desk, some bookshelves, chairs, busts of famous people, pictures...nothing odd.

Suddenly, he heard a groan from Meryl. He swiveled around and saw her jerking around. Gatomon had fallen unconscious on the ground. "Ah!"

Snake stepped in to try and help her, but backed off when Meryl suddenly raised her Desert Eagle up to his face. She began to walk towards him, slowly, talking in that strange voice again.

"Snake...do you...like me?"

"What the hell?!" He backed into the desk at the back of the room.

"Do you like me? Snake...hold me!" She walked right up in front of him, the barrel of her gun almost pressing into his forehead.

"What's wrong?" He pushed the gun away.

"Hurry...hurry! Make love to me!! Snake, I want you!" Suddenly, Psycho Mantis appeared out of thin air right behind her, floating, his arms stretched out to the side. A Sepikmon at his side, floating as well.

"What?!" Snake pulled out his SOCOM and aimed it at the new arrivals.

"Huh? You don't like girls?" Mantis taunted.

"Snake!" Campbell's voice rang through his ear. "Meryl's not herself, don't use your weapon! Mantis must be controlling her. Try and knock her out."

She leveled her gun back at his head, but Snake simply punched her hard in the forehead. She fell backwards, unconscious.

"Useless woman!" Mantis cried.

Snake looked Mantis over. "Optic camouflage, huh? I hope that's not your only trick."

"You! You doubt my power?!"

Snake ignored him and checked Meryl's pulse to make sure she was alright.

"Now...I will show you why I am the most powerful practitioner of psychokinesis and telepathy in the world." He spun around and moved around the room quickly, revealing there were no outside supports allowing him to float. "No...no need for words. This is no trick. It's true power!" He wheezed through his mask. He looked at the SOCOM pointed at his head. "It's useless. I can read your every thought. Let me...read your mind. Or should I say, your past."

He put his fingertips to his temples. "You're a great warrior, I see. Born into the legacy. Ah yes...my my...could it be true? Could he truly be your father? How interesting. You do look so much like him."

Snake's eyes widened slightly. Nobody but himself, Patamon, and Campbell knew that Takeru was his father.

"You've been running from your destiny for many years now. And failed. You know nothing but war, and live for nothing but it."

It was all true.

"What do you think now?! Can you feel my power now?!" Suddenly, the desk chair levitated off the ground. "The demonstration is over!" The chair flew at Snake. It was all he could do to jump out of the way.

Patamon went up to champion form, Angemon, and began to fight Sepikmon as Snake went in to fight Mantis. But he soon found Mantis could read his every thought, and move out of the way of any attack he might try before he could do it. Every move he made was met by some object in the room flying right at his face, every shot he took was into empty air. Angemon was having the same problem.

So they had to improvise. They had to force themselves to clear their mind and act on pure instinct. They'd make decisions of when to move and shoot at random points, without thinking about it. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world, acting on pure guts and nerves, but after awhile he managed to get the hang of it.

Mantis grew frustrated with his inability to read the future and anticipate the fight. He gave a groan of frustration as the 7th bullet penetrated his body. "Grr! You are powerful indeed. But I know your weak point!" Meryl stood back up again, wobbling. "Meryl, stand right there...and blow your brains out!"

She slowly pulled the desert eagle up to her temple, fighting the urge to pull the trigger. "Ahh!"

"Ahh!"

Snake ran in and punched her out again, knocking her to the ground. He turned around and sidestepped the picture frame flying at his head. Mantis looked confounded at these developments.

"Why?! Why?!"

He was so frustrated, he didn't even notice Snake raise his SOCOM up to him and unload. Mantis was thrown against the wall, clutching his chest. He slowly fell to the ground, breathing hard.

Snake patched into the colonel's frequency. "Colonel, your niece is going to be okay." He didn't take his eyes off of Mantis, however.

Angemon was polishing up on Sepikmon, who was equally frustrated and confused with his inability to read into the future to gain the upper hand. Without that advantage, he was making rather easy meat for the battle hardened Angemon.

"Thanks, Snake. I owe you one."

"Now Meryl's brainwashing should wear off, right, Naomi?"

"It should. But...why did you go so far out of your way to save her? For Campbell...or do you like her?"

He looked at her, lying on the ground, slowly coming back to. "I don't want to see any woman die right in front of me."

"Oh really? Since when did anybody's death bother you so much?" She responded, a little too harshly, Snake thought.

"Naomi! Snake has killed alot of people...but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a heart!" Campbell interjected.

"Colonel...she's right. It's okay." He walked up to Mantis as Angemon reverted back to Patamon and settled down next to him. Gatomon and Meryl got back up slowly.

"So...I wasn't able to read...read the future." Mantis groaned.

"A strong man doesn't need to read the future. He makes his own."

"Perhaps so...but let me read yours..." a pause... "To get to Metal Gear's underground maintenance base...you have to go through that hidden door. There's a hidden door behind the

bookcase. The overland route...it's blocked by frozen glaciers. Go past the communications towers. Then use the tower's walkway."

"Why are you helping me?" Snake bent down over Mantis.

"I can read people's minds. I have read the pasts, presents and futures of thousands upon thousands of men and woman."

Slowly, Snake removed Mantis's mask. His face was quite the sight. Melted slightly, wrinkled, grayish...Meryl grabbed her mouth in disgust. "Gross."

"Each mind I've peered into was stuffed with the same single object of obsession. That selfish desire to pass on one's seed...it was enough to make me sick. Every living thing on this planet exists to mindlessly pass on their DNA. We're designed that way. And that's why there is war. But you...you are different...You're the same as us. We have no past, no future. We live in the moment. That's out only purpose. Humans weren't designed to bring each other happiness. From the moment we're thrown into this world, we're fated to bring each other nothing but pain and misery. The first person who's mind I dove into was my father's. I saw nothing but disgust and hatred for me in his heart. My mother died in childbirth...and he despised me for it... I thought my father was going to kill me."

Meryl was raising her pistol to shoot Mantis, but Snake grabbed the barrel and pushed it down.

"When I came to, the village was engulfed in flames..."

"You burned your village down to bury your past?"

"I can see you have suffered the same trauma." Snake flashed back to the moment he killed Takeru, something he was no stranger to doing.

"We are truly the same, you and I...The world is a more interesting place with people like you in it... I never agreed with the Boss's revolution. His dreams of world conquest do not interest me. I just wanted an excuse to kill as many people as I could."

Meryl raised her gun up again at this. "You monster!"

Snake pushed the gun back down, more firmly this time. "He doesn't have much time left, let him talk."

"I've seen true evil. You Snake. You're just like the Boss...No, you're worse. Compared to you, I'm not so bad." Mantis looked over at Meryl. "You have a large place in her heart, you know."

"Meryl's?" He whipped his head around to look at her. She was touching his shoulder. "A large part?"

"I do not know if your futures lie together though." He looked at his mask. "Please, a last request. Put it back on." Snake complied, strapping it back on. "Other people's thoughts force their way into my head without the mask. Before I die...I want to be alone. Here." The bookcase in the back slid open, revealing a hidden passage. "If you want to find your future, go through that door. This is the first time I've ever used my power to help someone...it feels...kind of...nice..."

His head lolled to the side, his final breath leaving his body. Snake got up, looking down at him. Meanwhile, his partner melted away into data. He turned to the secret passage, ready to face his future.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Sniper Wolf

"Let's go, Meryl."

"I'm sorry...how could I let Mantis control my mind like that?"

He looked back at her. "If you're going to doubt yourself, I'll leave you here." He growled.

"No. You're right."

"Just let it make you stronger. Learn from it."

"Okay. I will. Snake, can I ask you something?"

Snake was already halfway to the doorway. He froze. "What?!" He asked in an annoyed tone. He didn't want to have to deal with this right now.

"About what Mantis said...what did he mean?"

Snake looked at the wall, suddenly becoming very interested in reading the titles of the books.

"Oh...well, what's your name? Your real name?"

"A name means nothing on the battlefield." He said vaguely.

"How...old are you."

"Old enough to know what death looks like."

"Family?"

"I already told you no. But I was raised by many people."

"Is there anyone you like?"

Snake looked around the room, slowly, before turning to face her. "I've never been interested in anyone else's life..."

"Huh. Just like Mantis said...you're all alone."

"Other people just complicate my life. I don't like to get involved."

"You're a sad, lonely man."

He ignored her, heading towards the doorway. "C'mon. Let's go." They headed through a small corridor out into a outdoor cave area.

"Alright, follow me." She began, apperantly putting the previous conversation behind them. "We gotta get through the caves. Watch out for the dogs."

They weaved through the small segment of caves, shooting dogs when they came to them. Snake got bit a few times, but made it through perfectly fine.

At the end of the cave a massive door awaited. Sensing Snake's level 5 access, it slowly slid open. It revealed an underground passage, a long path to a communications tower. Meryl took point and went forward down the path. Snake followed, getting a sudden strange tingling feeling down his spine. He was familiar with that one.

"Meryl!" He yelled. "Get down!"

Too late. Meryl looked down at her right thigh and saw a laser point on it. Before she could react, a loud gunshot filled the air and blood spurted from Meryl's leg as she fell over, moaning in pain and clutching her thigh. "Aaahh!"

"Meryl!" Snake quickly took cover behind the wall to the right, hearing a second gunshot as he did so. He looked back out and saw her partner lying next to her, blood spurting from her own leg as well. He looked behind him and, to his relief, saw Patamon in cover next to him.

Meryl was shot again in her left leg this time, sending her sprawling to the ground. She slowly reached for her desert eagle and pulled it out. The sniper was ready, however, and shot the gun right out of her hand. Meryl rolled onto her back, the pool of blood around her getting bigger and bigger by the second. Snake stuck his hand out from his nook in the wall, and pulled back immediately as a bullet struck the wall right by him. He was pinned down.

"Snake...forget about me...run. I guess...I am a rookie after all." She moaned. "They're trying to use me as bait, oldest trick in the book. Don't do it." She looked over at him slowly. "Snake...shoot me!"

"No!"

"I can't reach my gun...you'll have to do it. I promised I...wouldn't slow you down."

"Shut up!" He yelled. "Save your strength."

"I was a fool. I wanted to be a soldier. But there's nothing glamorous about war...it's ugly. Snake, please save yourself! Go on living and don't give up on people! Get out of here!"

"Snake!" Campbell yelled into his ear. "Don't do it! Sniper's trick! The sniper's waiting for you to go out and help her so he can pick you off."

"Sniper Wolf." Naomi added. "Must be her. She can wait for hours...days...weeks...doesn't matter to her. I know her. She'll wait for as long as it takes for you to expose yourself."

"Well Meryl can't hold out much longer...and there's nowhere to hide inbetween here and the tower. She must be on the second floor, I can't see her from here."

"The classic sniper position. If you want to have any chance of getting her you'll need a sniper rifle!"

"Colonel! Take it easy. I'm going to save Meryl...no matter what it takes. I promise." He looked defiantly at her.

"Hmm." He heard Naomi mutter.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just surprised you're willing to sacrifice yourself...you've got the genes of a soldier, not a savior."

"What? Trying to say I only care about my own skin?"

"Well, no. Not that far, but..."

"I don't know what the hell my genes look like and I don't care. I operate on instinct."

"Like an animal?"

He didn't like where this conversation was going. "I'm going to save Meryl, okay. I don't need an excuse. And I'm not doing it for someone else. Colonel, don't worry!"

"Snake...thanks." The colonel ended the convo. Snake thought hard. He was coming up blank. He couldn't even leave this section of wall that was keeping him protected. He grabbed Patamon up from the ground. He only had one idea. And he had had better ones.

"I need you to go back to the armory and get me a sniper rifle."

"This is ridiculous." Patamon commented, looking around.

"I know, but it's all we've got."

Patamon spotted a vent high on the wall above them and flew up to it. "Here's hoping." He popped it open and flew through. The vent cover was flung out to the center of the path, neatly shot by the sniper three times before falling to the ground. A ominous testament to what would happen to Snake should he reveal himself.

Patamon flew through the vent shaft, coming out in the cave area. Back into the commander's room...he forgot how long a trip it was. No guards though, for some reason. He took the elevator back up to the floor level, carefully through the warhead room, down the hall, back outside in the minefield.

All the while, he wondered how exactly he would carry a sniper rifle. He flew back into the first area, into the elevator, down to the still charred armory, and found it. Simple enough. He had to push it on the ground into the elevator, unable to lift it. As for the rest of the journey...he couldn't digivolve, he'd be too visible to everyone. He sent the elevator back up to ground level after making sure it was fully loaded and ready to fire. He quickly burst out of the doors as they slid open, realizing he'd have to be more direct to get through here, and snapped the neck of every guard in the area. He pushed the sniper rifle across the ground, through the gas chamber, and then outside into the minefield.

Oh joy. A minefield. He tried to remember where Snake had walked earlier, and pushed the rifle through the snow where he recalled his path was. He managed getting through unscathed...but now came the hard part. Getting through the warhead room.

Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He jumped around, ready to snap a neck, but was suprised to find nothing at all. Then, Otacon materialized.

"Hey."

"Don't scare me like that!" He yelled back. "And you decided to hide here? Next to the warhead room? Are you stupid?"

He shrugged. "Sorry, I'm kinda new to this. I've been moving around alot trying to find somewhere to set up camp. What are you doing here?"

"I came back to get a sniper. Now you can help me. Pick up the gun and follow me through the room."

"Oh no. I'm sorry, but...I can't do that."

"Yes, you can. I can't carry it, and I can't be seen in that room, or they'll close it off and search for me until they kill me. Plus, if they hit a warhead, who knows what hell will break loose. I think I might just be seen if I'm dragging a rifle across the ground. You have to carry it through the room."

"No, I don't think so." He started backing away.

"What? You can turn on your stealth camouflague and get through without any problem. What's the deal?"

"It's...it's not that. I've never held a gun before...and getting so close to those guards...I don't think I can-"

"If you don't, you'll be forever to blame for the terrorists launching a nuclear weapon. But more importantly, I'll kill you."

He looked up at him. "What?!"

"I said I'll kill you. Don't think I can't!"

He sighed and looked down at the sniper. "Well...okay." He picked it up and held it to his body. He went invisible. Patamon flew ahead, through the warhead room, hugging the ceiling to avoid guards. He waited until Otacon got up to the elevator, then hit the button and they quickly stepped in and went down to B1.

"See, that wasn't so bad."

"Oh yes it was! One of them heard me! Looked at me, almost touched me!"

"Well, he didn't." The door slid open and they dashed back out to the commander's room, into the cave area. "Okay, push the sniper into this vent shaft and i'll do the rest. Go hide, or whatever."

Otacon complied, and Patamon began pushing it the rest of the way. It was slow work, especially when he had to break it down into three pieces to get it around some turns, but after awhile he managed to push it down in front of Snake. He quickly began assembling it as Patamon flew down next to him. He looked up and saw a pool of blood in the center of the pathway.

"Where'd they go?"

Some genomes came and took them!" He grunted as he screwed the barrel on. He held it up, thinking. "Nothing I could do." He was obviously quite frustrated. He pulled a cigarette out from his pocket, and carefully threw out out into the path. He jumped out, just seeing the cigarette getting shot up by the sniper, peered through the scope at the second level of the tower ahead. He sighted wolf and got off a pair of shots. Success! She was knocked off her focus, and made to move her position.

But Snake was a man possessed. He had made a promise to Campbell, and intended to keep it. And he was pissed. Whenever she moved, he led her expertly and fired, never letting her get comfortable. It didn't take long. Soon, she ran off through a back door, apperantly giving up on the fight for the moment. Snake checked his rifle. Out of ammo. He took a deep breath, not believing his luck.

But he wasn't out of the woods yet. He got up and looked down at the tower. "Patamon, go." He pointed up at the vent. "Go hide."

"Why?"

"I've got a bad feeling." He pulled out his SOCOM. "I want to have an ace-in-the-hole just in case...if something happens, I want you somewhere else so you might be able to finish the job or help me. FOXHOUND members don't just retreat."

Patamon nodded, realizing Snake wasn't stiffing him on any action. He flew off and Snake ran down the path. Holding his gun out at the ready, he slowed down and walked up to the door at the end of the path leading into the tower.

His gut feeling proved a good one, for all the good it did. He heard a gun click right behind his head. Then two more. "Freeze!"

Snake threw his hands up in the air and slowly turned around. Three genome soldiers had rappeled down from the ceiling with incredible silence behind him.

"It's hard to miss when you're this close." Came a voice of russian origin behind him.

He turned around to face a strikingly attractive woman, pointing a sniper rifle right at his chest. A laser was dancing across Snake's chest along with it.

"Toss your weapon over here...slowly." Snake complied, tossing the gun into the snow by Wolf. "You were a fool to come down here...stupid man!"

"A lady sniper." He said quietly.

"Didn't you know that two thirds of the world's greatest assassins are women? Do you want to die now? Or after your female friend? Which will it be?"

Snake spat. "I'll die after I kill you."

She laughed. "Oh, is that right. At least you've got spirit." She pointed her gun at the ground and ran her fingers through her hair slowly. "I am Sniper Wolf. And I always kill what I aim at. As you are about to find out." She walked up to him, touching his face. "And you're my...special prey. Got it." She scratched Snake's cheek, drawing blood. "I've left my mark on you. And I won't forget it. Until I kill you...you're all i'll think about."

She walked away slowly. Snake's eyes fell on her rear end...he had a tendency to do that alot. But it was the last thing he saw before the world went black, as a guard smashed his head over with a FAMAS.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Dear Brother

"Don't kill him yet. I want him alive." Snake slowly came back to the world, barely making out these words, just discerning an english accent.

"Don't worry, leave it to me." A older sounding voice.

"I want no more accidents like the DARPA chief." Came the english voice.

A russian accent. "Yes. He's my target."

He finally opened his eyes and saw an overhead medical lamp. He heard computers running. Then he remembered who and where he was. The old man was Ken. The russian accent came from Sniper Wolf. The english one...he didn't know.

"Can you hear me, Solid Snake?" Asked the english voice. He remained motionless for the moment. Maybe he could learn something.

"He's tough...beat me in a sniper fight. Never let me get comfortable. Definitely tougher than I thought."

"Do you know who I am?" The strange man began again. "I always knew one day I would meet you. The man who stole what was rightly mine...the man who stole my birthright. Me? I'm the man you stole everything good from." He thought hard, still hazy from getting hit in the back of the head. Slowly, realization crept into his brain that this must be Liquid Snake. "And now, after the sacrifice of our brothers...after 30 long years, finally the two of us meet. The brother of light and the brother of dark."

"You need his DNA too?" Wolf asked.

"Yes, while he's still alive. To correct the genome soldier's mutations. We'll still need to get our hands on Takeru's DNA to cure them completely, however."

"Have they given in yet?"

A pause. "Not yet."

"They're all a bunch of hypocrites." She laughed.

"Is that your opinion as a Kurd? Don't worry, they won't want any leak about their precious nuclear weapons. He awake yet?"

Ken's voice. "Looks like it." Snake felt himself slowly rotate upwards. He realized he was strapped to a revolving metal bed that was revolving to face Liquid.

"There's definitely a resemblance." Liquid began, looking Snake over. "Don't you think, little brother? Or should I say big brother? I'm not sure...anyway, it doesn't matter." He saw the slight look of confusion on Snake's face. "You and I are both the last surviving 'sons of Takeru'." So it was true. They were brothers. At least, so he said. His eyes went over to a Patamon lying on a nearby table. His heart almost stopped, then he realized it wasn't his. "Yes, I even had the same partner fall into my lap. It's amazing how similar we turned out."

A cell phone rang from his pocket and he pulled it out. "It's me...really? Then what?" He gave a groan of frustration. "Those idiots! All right. I'll be right there." He hung up. "They're not responding to our demands...we launch in 10 hours as planned."

"Looks like you read them wrong." Ken stated. Snake looked at him and was pleased to see the stump where his hand should have been. Almost made him forget about his situation.

"Something's not right...Server must think they have something up their sleeves. Normally they'd give in much sooner than this." He looked at Snake accusingly.

"So, we're going to launch that nuke and ride all the way into history." Ken looked at a control panel to his right.

"I suppose so. I have things to attend to, you're in charge here, Ocelot." He walked off.

Ken turned to Wolf. "Wanna stay for the show?"

"I'm not interested. Time to feed the family, anyway." She took out a pill bottle and opened it. She poured a few of the pills into her hand and swallowed a few.

"You prefer your wolves to my show?"

Suddenly, Liquid stuck his head back into the room. "Again, make sure you don't screw up like you did with the chief!"

"That was an accident. I didn't think a pencil pusher like him would be so tough. I won't make the mistake again." He looked at his stump of an arm. "What about that ninja?"

"He's killed 12 men so far...he's some kind of lunatic."

"Bastard took my hand..." he growled. "How did he get in here?"

"Perhaps there's a spy among us...now, Mantis is dead, and we've got to find out what killed Baker and Octopus." Snake blinked. Octopus? What mistake with the chief? Maybe he still wasn't all the way back...still hazy. "So make this show as short as possible." He looked at Snake. "See you later...brother."

Wolf walked up right in front of him, touching his bare chest. "Your woman...she is still in this world...catch you later, handsome." She walked away casually.

"Meryl..." Snake slowly recalled. She was still alive...assuming she wasn't lying...that was good...

"She won't think about anything else. Once she picks a target. Sometimes she falls in love with them before she kills them." Ken began, snapping Snake's head back to face him. "So now it's just the two of us. How are you feeling?"

"Caught a nice nap on this bed of yours. Too bad I was sleeping alone."

"Yes, it's quite a bed. I'll show you some of it's nicer features..."

He tried to rotate his head around. "Where's my stuff?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'll take good care of it. I must say, SFS was taking quite a risk in sending you here. Must have alot of faith in your skill."

As long as he was here, maybe he could get something of worth. "So this Metal Gear...armed with a new nuclear warhead, huh?"

He laughed. "Trying to learn something? Why don't you ask Campbell? He can tell you everything."

"The colonel?"

"Also, the optical disk from President Baker. Is that the only copy of the data?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's no copy? If not, that's fine. Now, is there?"

"What if there is?"

"I see. Fine, we'll play your way."

"Is Meryl okay?"

"She's not dead...yet. Wolf must have been in a good mood. If you want her to stay that way, you could start answering my questions. Now, you had one card key. Where are the other two? And what's the trick to using them?"

"Trick? Hell if I know."

"What about that partner of yours?" Wormmon crawled into the room through the door. "Mine wants some revenge for beating him down earlier."

Snake shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Very well. No matter. Let's play a little game. It was many, many years ago when I watched a man torture your father. It was then...I realized...it wasn't so bad. In fact, it was very interesting. The ultimate form of expression. Your father was a real man, he didn't give in to it, no matter how bad it got. Let's see what kind of a man you are. I don't have the means or time to get...really creative, so this will have to do." He turned back to Snake. "Now, you can give up at any time, and the suffering will end. But if you do, Meryl takes your place on this bed, and I won't extend her the same courtesy."

He turned to the control board. Snake braced himself. An electrical current began coursing through his body, causing him to scream in agony. He had quite a bit of training in this area, but he was still a man. The shocks flowed through for about eight seconds before ceasing, leaving Snake to hang there, smoking slightly.

"You're a tough guy, Snake. I've already seen that. But I've got news for you..you're no POW. You're a hostage. No one is coming to save you. We can go on for a very, very long time. Starting to feel a little scared?"

He turned back to the console. "Alright, let's go." The shocks came back, just as before, coursing through his body. He spasmed around and screamed for what felt like an eternity. He lost count of time by the time the current died.

"Come on. You don't want to die like this, do you? I could do this all day. But i'll give you credit, you're the boss's brother alright. An amazing man, your brother is. Who else could shoot down two F-16s with a Hind helicopter?" He looked Snake over. "Yes...Les Enfants Terribles was not a total failure. Not at all."

Snake was about to ask what he was talking about, but the shocks began again. By the time they stopped, Snake was sure hours had passed. But of course, it had only been about 30 seconds.

"Yes...your brother is the one man who can make my dream a reality. We live in a sad age. In years past, Buffet had it's share of problems, but at least it had an ideology. Today, they have nothing. Stuck between freedom and order, from which nationalism has been born." He smiled. "The boss has a friend high up in the Server government. He's agreed to purchase this new nuclear weapons system. The Hind was just a downpayment."

"So...you just want money?" He managed to moan out.

"No. I want Buffet to be reborn...I love Buffet...to see it in it's current state makes me very sad. I want Buffet to lead a new world order."

Snake laughed. "Some Patriot. Born in the real world, defected to BAF, undercover for SFS, and now back to the BAF?"

"I see you know me very well. Yes, it has taken me many, many years to find where I truly wanted to be. This world needs conflict and tension. It's become too soft. We want to fill it with suspicion...greed...bravery...you want the same thing. I know it. And Liquid Snake is the man who can bring this to us. Now, one more time can't hurt, I suppose."

He activated it again, sending Snake back into a world of pain. He paced about while the shocks went through for about 40 seconds before stopping it. Snake just hung there, hoping Ken wasn't lying.

"Yes, I have things to attend to as well. I suppose that's enough for the moment. I'll be back after some things are dealt with, however." He walked off, motioning to a guard outside the room as he stepped out. The guard walked in and pulled Snake off the bed. He was too tired to try anything, so he allowed himself to be dragged into a cell.

After he was thrown in and the door shut, he slowly got up. Tile floor, windows all around...he'd seen worse cells. But the sight in the corner nearly changed his mind. A dead body.

"Looks like i've got a roommate." He took a closer look at him. "The DARPA chief?! Oh man...what a stench." He stepped closer inspite of the smell. Something wasn't right...he looked like he had been dead for some time, but he had just seen him die not that long ago. Plus...his blood was drained. He walked back into the other corner and sat himself down on a cot, feeling himself. It still hurt.

"Snake, are you okay?" Campbell rang in.

"I've been better." He tried to calm himself. He had some unkind words for Campbell in mind, and tried to reason with himself to hold his tongue. He couldn't.

"How's Meryl?" He didn't say anything, just looked down at the floor. "Snake, the government has decided not to give in to their demands. We're trying to buy some more time."

"C'mon. Stop playing dumb, Colonel. I'm sorry about Meryl, but the lies have to end now. Metal Gear was designed to launch a new type of nuclear warhead, wasn't it?" Silence. "You knew it all along, didn't you?" Still nothing. "Why did you try to hide it?"

Finally. "...I'm sorry..."

"Can't tell the grunts, huh? You've changed alot alright. Does the server government know about this? How deep does it go?"

"As of yesterday, the president had not been briefed about the Rex project."

"Need to know basis?"

"These are sensitive times. Even sub-critical nuclear tests are causing quite a stir."

"Plausible deniability, huh?"

"Yes, and tomorrow President Sears and his Buffet counterpart are to sign the start 3 accord."

"Hence the deadline."

"Right. That's why we can't let this terrorist attack go public. We still haven't even ratified Start 2 or dealt with the issue of TMDs. This has to do with the President's reputation and Server's place as the dominant superpower."

"So patriotism is your excuse?"

"Please...Snake...just stop them."

"Why should I?"

"Because you're the only one who can."

"Then tell me the truth about this new warhead."

"I told you already, I don't know the details."

"Well, I don't believe you. Why not just give them Takeru's remains if this situation is so serious?"

"Well, you see..." he trailed off.

"Or is there some reason you can't do that? Something you haven't told me."

"Publicly, the President has been very vocal in his opposition to eugenics experiments. We don't want the existance of the Genome Army to go public." Naomi stated, saving Campbell from having to say anything.

"And that's the only reason?" No response. "Huh! To hell with you!" He laid down on the cot and put his hands over his face.

"I'm sorry." Campbell said simply.

"The corpse of the DARPA chief is lying next to me. But it's strange. He looks and smells like he's been dead for days. And his blood's been drained."

"Maybe to slow down decomposition?" Naomi suggested.

"No idea. But the chief only died a few hours ago, I saw it with my own eyes. But for some reason he's already starting to decompose. Is there anything in his blood they might have wanted?"

"Nanomachines and a transmitter. Nothing of interest."

"Snake, bust out of there somehow and forget about the keys. We don't have time to wait for you to look for the other two. You need to find a way to destroy metal gear. Sorry to lay it all in your lap, but you're all I got."

He looked around the room. Nothing came to mind. "I think the only thing I can do is wait for Patamon to help me out, hopefully before that maniac gets back. I don't know how much I can take if I'm being honest. Naomi...please talk to me. Something to take my mind off the pain."

"I'm...I'm not a very good talker..."

"About yourself. Anything. Please. Any family?"

"That's not a happy topic for me I'm afraid..."

"I don't have any family." He looked out the window in his cell at the guard patrolling about. "Well, no, wait. There was a man who said he was my father."

"Where is he?"

"Dead. By my own hand."

"Takeru Takaishi." Campbell slowly breathed.

"What?! Takeru?! I...I had no idea."

"Very few people know. It happened in Zanzibar six years ago. As far as I know, only Snake, Patamon, myself, Liquid Snake, and now you know."

"Is he really your father?"

"...that's what he told me. That's all I know." He followed the guard around with his eyes. "This Liquid says he's my brother as well, but that's all I know."

"And you were able to kill Takeru...knowing he was your father?"

"Yup. He wanted it. Besides, some people just need killing..."

"That's patricide."

"Yup. That's what Mantis was talking about, the trauma we hold in common."

"And that's why you left FOX-HOUND?"

"I needed to be alone for awhile."

"...I don't have a real family either. A big brother who put me through school, not even a blood relation. He was much older than me. He's dead now..."

"I'm sorry."

"...Snake, is there a woman in your life? Friends?"

"It's hard to trust anyone after all the wars i've been through. Friends...Roy Campbell."

He heard Campbell laugh. "Huh? You're still calling me friend?"

"Patamon, my partner."

"Is that it?"

"No...there was another...Frank Jaeger."

"What?!"

Campbell finished Snake's thought. It was annoying how he kept doing that. "Takeru's most trusted lieutenant and the only member of FOX-HOUND to ever receive the codename of Fox...Gray Fox."

"I learned alot from him." She read her silence. "I know we did try to kill each other in Zanzibar. But it wasn't...personal. Just two professionals on opposite sides doing a job, that's all. War is no reason to end a friendship."

"That's...that's insane."

"I remember when I first met him, in Outer Heaven. He was being held prisoner, but he didn't seem like it. So cool and precise. I was still green, he helped me."

"You knew him well?"

"No, an unwritten rule. Don't talk about your personal lives. Next time I saw him, we were enemies. Fighting in a minefield. It might sound strange, but we were just two soldiers doing our job. It's...to be honest, like a sport."

"Men and their games! You're like wild animals!"

Snake smiled inspite of himself. "You're right."

She sighed. "Well, that doesn't explain the ninja's behavior."

"I can't explain that."

"I think I can...it's your genes. They make you predisposed towards violence!"

"You sure like talking about genes. Why'd you get into that field anyway?

"I never knew who my parents were or even what they looked like. I guess I got into genetics because I wanted to figure out why I'm the way I am. I thought if I studied my genetic structure, I'd find out who I really was. I thought that by analyzing a person's genetic information, I could retrieve the blank spots in that person's memory."

"Interesting. Memory is stored in DNA?"

"We're not sure. But a person's genetic fate is figured by the sequence of the four bases in their DNA."

"Do you know my fate? You know my DNA sequence, don't you?"

"Sorry...I have no idea."

"Yes. There you go. See? You're a scientist, not a fortune teller."

No response. He supposed the talk was over. His attention turned to the guard, who was sneezing profusely, and was clutching his stomach. "Ohhhh! My stomach!" He ran out of the room, through the torture chamber, out the other side, into a bathroom apperantly.

"Hey!" Came a cry from the door. Suddenly, Otacon appeared out of nowhere in front of the cell door. "I'm here! Wow, they even captured you."

He jumped off the cot and ran up to the door, reaching through the bars in the small gap in the center of the door and grabbing Otacon by the collar. "Hurry! Get me out of here!" He demanded, shaking him.

"Hey, let me go! That hurts! Is that how you ask a guy a favor?"

Snake took a deep breath and put him down. "You're right. Sorry. But I need to get out of here."

"Okay...oh man, what a smell!"

Snake pointed at the chief. "Because of him. If you don't get me out of here, I'll be laying next to him."

"Oh man..." he gave a look of disgust at the corpse before turning his attention to the door. "This door doesn't open with a security card. You need a key."

"Then what are you doing here?"

He sheepishly pulled a hamburger and ketchup out of his coat pocket. "I...I thought you might be hungry." He pushed them through the window into Snake's hands.

He looked at them before chucking the burger across the room, splattering it against the wall. "I don't need food!" He growled at Otacon as he turned back. The nanomachines were still giving him nutrients through his bloodstream, keeping him from getting hungry or needing energy from food.

"Okay okay! Sorry." He pulled a small patch from his other pocket. "Here, it'll open level 6 doors." Snake took it, planning to attach it after he got out of here. He looked back and saw Otacon holding up a hankerchief.

"What's that?"

"I got it from Sniper Wolf. I don't know why...but she's nice to me."

"Sounds like Stockholm Syndrome to me."

"I take care of the dogs here...the terrorists were planning to shoot all the dogs, but Wolf stopped them. She even let me feed them when I asked. She must be a good person...she likes dogs."

"Wake up you idiot! She shot Meryl!"

"I know, I know." He looked nervously at the wall. "Well, I better get out of here..."

"Wait! You've got to get me out of here. They're planning to launch a nuke! The guard's got the key, when he gets back from the bathroom, take him out!"

"Gimme a break!" He started backing away from the door. "I'm no soldier, I'll be killed...I can't take anyone out!"

"You have to!"

Otacon looked over at the door in the torture chamber, which had just slid open. "Oh, he's coming back!" He quickly activated his stealth camouflague. "See ya later!" He heard his footsteps echoing away.

"Wait!" He cried after him, knowing it was futile. Grumbling, he walked back up to his bed and punched the wall above it, hurting his fist quite a bit in the process. He sat back down as the guard came back in to to start his patrol again.

Suddenly, the guard's head was removed from his body, blood spurting comically from the neck as the pieces fell to the floor. Snake jumped up, going into a fighting stance, ready for anything...but not ready for nothing, which is what happened. Then, the door to the cell slid open. Cautiously, he stepped out, spinning around constantly, waiting for an attack.

He went up to the severed head and body. Cut by some type of blade no doubt...Gray Fox. He ran into the torture room and grabbed his equipment, assembling it back onto his person. He readied his SOCOM, still anticipating Gray Fox to show up. But he never did.

"Snake, you got out? You're in a sub-basement of the warhead storage facility. Get back to the communications tower!" Campbell instructed.

Snake ran out the other door out of the torture chamber, chaffed a few cameras, and found the elevator. He rode it up to B1, back through the commander's room and the cave...and he was back in the path that was the scene of the sniper fight. He recalled every detail of Meryl getting shot by Wolf as he laid eyes on the massive bloodstain on the ground. He stood there for quite some time, looking down on the stain, until Campbell interuptted his recollection.

"Snake...about Meryl. You did what you could, now let it rest."

"I wasn't able to protect her. And I'm sorry."

"She joined up of her own free will. I'm sure she was prepared for this."

"No...you're wrong. Meryl thought she had to become a soldier...thought it was the only way. She said she thought it would bring her closer to her dead father. She wasn't ready for real combat. It's my fault, I pushed her too hard."

Master Miller suddenly joined in on the conversation. "That's not like you, Snake."

"Master Miller? What is it?"

'Sorry for eavesdropping, but I couldn't just listen anymore. Snake, you can have regrets, it's only natural. But don't attack yourself for things that happened in the past."

"Snake...you tried. Forget about Meryl. Stop Liquid. That's what she'd want, I'm sure."

"Meryl...she's pretty special to you?" Naomi inquired.

"There aren't many women like her around...she's a combat buddy...and the colonel's niece."

"Is that all...oh c'mon..."

"This is like a police interrogation."

"I guess it's in the genes." Campbell quipped.

"Huh?"

"I just remembered about Naomi's grandfather. I think Naomi said he rose as high as assistant secretary in the Server Bureau of Investigation during Dave Grohl's time. Back when the digital world was just being populated."

"Yes...yes." She began, a little hurriedly. "He was Japanese. Became a special undercover investigator to help nab the mafia in Server."

"When was this?" Miller asked, sounding slightly suspicious.

"Oh...Back around 2018, I guess. Somewhere around there."

"Where?" He was pressing for answers rather hard, Snake felt.

"Ermm...Rayburn, I think..."

"I thought you didn't have any family."

"Well...I...I researched it after I became an adult. I never knew him, he was already dead by that time."

"Enough chitchat. Snake, get moving. Good luck." The transmission ended, leaving Snake to wonder about Naomi's shyness concerning her grandfather and Miller's suspicious nature.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: I'm your Shadow

He proceeded ahead into the communications tower. No ambush this time. He stepped through the door into the tower when suddenly something alighted upon the top of his head. He frantically grabbed up towards it and pulled it down, only to find it was Patamon.

"Where the hell were you? I had to wait for Gray Fox to find me!"

"Sorry...I couldn't find you." He finished lamely.

"Couldn't find me?! God damn, it couldn't have been that hard!"

"Sorry, I looked, I really did!"

"Well...whatever, let's get moving." They walked into the tower and began ascending a spiral staircase. Each footstep brought a resounding clank from the metal stairs, bringing them closer to the door near the top. They chaffed several cameras on the way, sending them into a frenzy before passing under them. However, when the got up to the door, it responded to his security card...but simply wouldn't open.

"Strange." He kicked it, accomplishing nothing. He took a deep breath, patching into Otacon's frequency. "Coward he might be, I guess I need his help."

"Hey, Snake! You got out!"

"Yeah, no thanks to you. Well, whatever. The door to the bridge that connects the two communications towers won't open. I have clearance but it's stuck or something."

"Huh? Oh yeah! I remember! It would get so cold outside that sometimes that door would freeze shut. We always meant to take care of it, but-"

"Frozen? How do I get it open?"

"Well, they'd always use C4 or something from the outside, you can't open it from the inside."

He pounded his fist into the door. "Damn! Now what?!"

"It's okay. There's a second bridge on the roof you can use. Just keep going up."

So they continued their spiraling trip upwards until they reached the top, taking a ladder up through a small hatch in the roof of the tower. Sure enough, a bridge connected the roof to a second roof on the second tower to the north. They began trekking across it, but quite suddenly, a Hind D helicopter appeared from below, alarms on it blaring as it kept itself suspended in midair by the power of it's blades.

It fired a series of missiles at the bridge, destroying it. When the smoke cleared, it was evident there would be no crossing using it. "Dammit!"

Liquid's voice resonated from the helicopter. "Snnaaaaakkee! I'm afraid I can't let you get past here!"

"Liquid?"

"You're not going any farther. Die!"

Patamon quickly took his champion form and held off a second volley of missiles. He quickly grabbed Snake and set him down on the lower bridge connecting the two towers before focusing again on holding off the helicopter's assualt. Snake quickly ran across, ducking into the safe confines of the communications tower as Angemon deflected missiles and rockets trying to keep him from doing such. He retreated after his master into the tower, falling into Snake's arms as he de-digivolved back. Tired, but still capable.

The pair looked down into the depths of the tower. Another spiral staircase, filled with the usual cameras and turrets...he peered down further and realized several of the sets of staircases were mangled and destroyed. He could get down about six or seven flights, but then it looked like a long way to the bottom.

He walked up to it and hit the down button, only to get a small negative sounding alarm. He waited a minute before pushing it again. Nothing. Why did everything always have to have a hitch.

"Hey." Came a voice from right behind him. He whipped out his SOCOM, spun around, and nearly shot blindly into...nothing. "Don't shoot!" Otacon appeared out of nowhere. "It's me Snake! Don't shoot!"

"Otacon?" He resisted an urge to grab him and strangle him. He'd need his help later. "How'd you get here."

"The elevator. I saw your entrance, mine wasn't nearly as dramatic."

"The elevator was working?"

"Well...yeah. Why wouldn't it? Man, you're incredible. Both of you. Like...movie heroes or something."

He looked away from him. "No...you're wrong. In the movies the hero always saves the girl..."

"Oh, Meryl? Sorry...forget I said anything. Look, there's something I've really got to ask you, it's why i've followed you up here." He began to go red, looking at the elevator. "Have you ever...loved someone?"

Snake turned back suddenly to Otacon, raising an eyebrow and backing away slowly. The last thing he needed right now is for him to hit on him. "That's what you came to ask?"

"Well, sorta. I was wondering if soldiers can fall in love..."

"Get to the point!"

"Okay...do you think love can bloom even on a battlefield?"

"I think at any time, any place...people can fall in love with each other." He turned back away, looking at the ground. "But if you love someone, you have to be able to protect them."

Otacon nodded slowly. "I think so too."

"I need to ask you a favor. Get this elevator moving, it stopped down there." He pointed down towards the bottom floor. "I've got to go swat a noisy fly." He dashed back out the door to the outside, Patamon close behind.

They ran back out onto the roof, looking around. And then, the Hind D emerged from below.

"So, the Snake's out of his hole? Are you ready now...my brother?"

"Why are you calling me brother?" Though he already knew. "Who the hell are you?!"

"I'm you. I'm your shadow."

"What does that even mean?!"

"Ask the father that you killed! I'll send you to hell to meet him!" A machine gun turret on the botton began spinning about, pointing at the two. They ducked for cover behind a re-enforced shed. Patamon went up to champion form, begging to go to ultimate and just make it nice and easy, but Snake insisting he'd need to save that for later.

He pulled out his SOCOM as the projectiles from the Hind D beat on the otherside of the re-enforced shed. "Go kick his ass, I'll do what I can." Angemon flew out, engaging the helicopter.

Snake ran out, pelting the helicopter with his pistol, seemingly not having any effect. He had largely a free rein at it while Angemon kept his attention, but couldn't do anything. He dashed into the shed, hoping for some heavier firepower.

After sorting through some lighter equipment, he found just what he was looking for. A rocket launcher. Big and Cumbersome, but he could make it work. These giants didn't run off batteries, so he loaded a pair of shells by hand, set it up, and kicked the door open.

He quickly fired off at the helicopter, both shells exploding on the metal sides of the chopper, knocking it to the side. Angemon was giving it everything he had. Inspite of it's strong armor and powerful weapons, it was beginning to falter.

The turret spun towards Snake, but he had already ducked back into the shed. Machine gun bullets uselessly peppered the armored shed as Snake loaded the launcher once again. He waited for the helicopter to come back up into view, then for it to be distracted by Angemon...then he burst out and fired.

The first shell missed. He had swung into his position too hard and gone over slightly. But the second one tore into the chopper blades. Strong they may have been, to this point resisting Angemon's attempts to break them, they couldn't take this last explosion. They fell away, leaving the chopper to fall and implode towards the ground. "C'mon! Fly! Dammit!" The copter fell down into the snow fields below, exploding in a wreck on the ground. Snake looked down on it as a fireball flew up into the air from it.

"See you in hell. That takes care of the cremation." Angemon reverted back and settled down on his head.

Otacon chose this moment to ring it. "Snake, the elevator's working. But it's odd...I didn't fix it. It just moved by itself. What was that explosion just now?"

"Oh, me and Patamon had to take out that helicopter." He started heading back inside.

"Helicopter?! That's amazing!"

"Okay. Once I get to the bottom, then what?"

"There's a snowfield right outside the tower. The entrance to the underground base where metal gear is being stored is on the other side of it."

"Alright. Find a safe place to hide while I take care of it." His codec rang in his ear. "Hold on, got another call." He switched over.

"Snake!" Deepthroat. "There's a bomb in your sneaking suit! Get rid of it!"

"Hey! What?! Come back!" But he had already signed off, or was simply remaining silent. Grumbling, he began feeling around his sneaking suit. Finally, he found a strange object sewn into it, barely noticable unless you were really looking. He ripped it out. A tiny metal object, blinking red lights. He threw it off the side of the tower, and saw it explode as it hit the snowfield below.

"Ken...you'll pay for that one." He grumbled as he walked inside the tower. Sure enough, the elevator was waiting for him at the top. They stepped in, only to be greeted by another alarm as soon as they did. They looked up at the control panel and saw the weight limit light blinking.

"Patamon, lay off the donuts will you?"

Patamon ignored the fat joke. "Odd...the limit's set at 650 pounds." Snake shrugged.

Otacon rang in. "Oh...Snake, I forgot to tell you something earlier. There were five stealth prototypes in my lab earlier. I meant to go back and get you one. Now if you take out the one i'm wearing, that leaves four-"

"Hey, this isn't first grade math class, hurry up."

"The four suits were missing. Also, about the elevator...it was like someone was intentionally holding it."

"Did the weight limit go off when you were on it?" He said, pushing the button to go down to the bottom floor several times, overriding it's protests about the weight.

"Yeah, that also bugged me. I can't possibly weigh 650 pounds..."

"Well-" Sudden realization hit him, and it must have Otacon at the same time.

"Oh shit, Snake, look out-!" But Snake was already on top of it. He reached into a corner and felt a genome soldier standing there, invisible thanks to the stealth prototype. He twisted him around and pressed himself against the corner, using him as a human shield. Meanwhile, Patamon had caught on and quickly felt a second soldier in another corner, breaking his neck before any reaction could be had.

Snake threw the first guard into another corner, hearing the 'oopfm' of the two of them crashing, before pulling out his SOCOM and quickly shooting blindly into the other corner. He then turned back towards where he knew the last two were and shot them both. They both felt around quickly for another one or one that might have survived, but there was nothing but four invisible corpses.

"Damn. Sorry, Snake, I guess I should have locked them up better."

"Yeah, I guess." He finished sarcastically. "But you're sure there aren't any more?"

"Quite."

The elevator door slid open, and they walked out, ready...but nothing awaited them on the other side.

"I don't like this...now suddenly their's not nearly enough security." He growled. Then he spotted a sniper rifle up against the wall next to the door leading outside. "Oh." He looked at Patamon. "Ready?"

He nodded. The shot Naomi had given them both seemed to give them a neverending supply of energy and alert-ness, no matter how long or hard they fought.

They stepped outside into a blinding snowstorm, Snake holding the sniper out. They crept across the snow-covered ground, waiting for the inevitable shot.

And then, it came. In the leg. It knocked Snake to the ground. He slowly got up, feeling the healing properties of his suit kick in. He began swinging around wildly.

"Otacon! Otacon! Are you sure about there only being 5 stealth prototypes?!"

"...yes, positive."

"Then...somebody's shooting me...sniping me...in the middle of this blizzard!" He yelled, frustrated by his inability to find whoever was attacking him. "It's gotta be her!"

"What? Wolf? Yes, it has to be her! Definitely!"

He ran behind a rock for cover. "You sound happy."

"Erm...no, I'm not." A pause. "It's just...Snake, please don't kill her!"

"Are you insane?!" He prepped his rifle. State of the art, had a battery and everything.

"She's a good person! You'd know that if you talked to her..."

"I can see you...perfectly from here." A voice purred into his ear. Wolf had somehow patched into his codec. "I never quit the hunt, like I told you. Now you're mine!"

"Wolf, please! You can't!" Begged Otacon.

"Don't get between a wolf and it's prey!" She warned.

"I'll give you credit. You managed to hit me in this storm." Snake commented.

"Snake...I'm near. Can you sense me near you?"

"Snake...Wolf...please don't do this!" Otacon continued to plead.

"Quiet! Don't get in our way!" Wolf hissed.

Snake caulked his rifle, ready to go. "Now i'm gonna pay you back for Meryl..." he grumbled. Patamon digivolved up to Angemon and flew out from his cover, engaging with a Tankmon that had been creeping up on their position. Leaving Snake and Wolf to duel.

Snake turned out from his cover, his eyes searching through the storm for Wolf. He ducked back in just as a second shot zoomed in, going right through where he was a split second before. He turned back out...and he had her. He aimed the scope, pulled the trigger, and the duel was on.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Truth

It wasn't easy, sniper dueling in a snowstorm. Wolf didn't seem to have a problem with it, though. She popped up from all sorts of places from the other side of the field, her laser pointer always finding Snake somehow through the snow. He stayed behind cover for the most part, only popping out when he thought he had a decent bead on where she was by where the last shot had come from.

He finally discovered that switching to thermal vision made it much easier, as her body heat made her stand out in the field of snow. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier...must be distracted somehow. It still isn't easy to snipe in a storm, but he started having alot more luck. Popping out, locating her, squeezing off a couple rounds, ducking back into hiding. It was quite a sight, this legendary sniper being out sniped by someone who never received more than the general training FOX-HOUND members would get. But Snake had it in his genes.

Angemon's fight with Tankmon went as expected. From the start, it was apperant the rather clunky and inefficent Tank would stand no chance against Angemon. He quickly gained the upper hand and disposed of him rather casually. That wasn't the true fight. The fight lay in the sniper duel.

After many errant shots by both shooters, with the occasional bullseye, Snake got off a shot, ducked being a tree, waiting for a return volley...but none came. He used his scope to look at where he had shot, and saw Wolf laying in a snow. Perhaps a trick...he felt like a real jackass, but to be sure, had to pop her in the leg from afar just to be sure. She gave a small jolt, but didn't get up. He moved in slowly, going back to normal vision.

She was laying on her back in a pool of blood forming in the snow, her rifle thrown out to the side, a few feet from her. She looked up at him as he bent down next to her.

"I've waited for this moment..." she slowly began. "Waiting is my job. Never moving a muscle...concentrating." It was taking quite a bit of effort, clearly. She began to cough up blood. "I am lung-shot. Y...you can not save me." Snake had to fight quite a bit to say 'why would I anyway' and continue to listen. Patamon alighted on his shoulder, having polished up the rather comically easy fight.

"Please, just finish me quick. I am a Kurd. I have always dreamed of a peaceful place like this..."

"That's why you're called wolf..."

"I was born and raised on the battlefield. Gunfire, sirens, screams...my lullabies. Hunted like dogs day after day, driven from our ragged shelters. For years, that was my life. Each morning, I'd wake up and find a few more of my family or friends dead beside me. I'd pray to make it through the day. Governments everywhere in this world turned a blind eye to us. But then...my hero, Saladin...he took me away from all that."

"Saladin?" He put two and two together in his mind. "You mean Takeru?"

"Yes...and I became a sniper. I watched everything through the scope of a rifle. Now I could see war from the outside, as an observer. I watched brutality and stupidity through the scope. I joined this group of revolutionaries to take my revenge on the world." Her head lolled to the right, looking off in the distance. "But I have shamed...myself and my people. I am no longer a wolf, I sold my body and soul for vengance. I am nothing more than a dog now."

"Wolves are noble animals. Not like dogs. I'd know. They call mercenaries "Dogs of War". It's true, we're all for sale at some price. But you're different...trust me, you're no dog. You're a wolf." May as well grant her this much in her final moments.

"Who are you?" She looked back up at him. "Are you Saladin?"

He smiled inspite of himself. Close. "You...you spared Meryl's life."

"I don't kill for sport."

He stood up, pulling out his SOCOM. "You'll die as the proud wolf you are." He took aim at her forehead.

"I think I understand. I wasn't waiting to kill people...but for someone to kill me. Someone like you. You're a hero. Please...set me free."

He was about to pull the trigger, when suddenly Otacon appeared in the middle of the snowy field, just catching his eye as he ran over frantically. "Why...?! I loved you..." he cried through the storm.

She ignored him. "My gun...she's part of me...let me have it..." Snake walked over to it, handing it to her cautiously, aware the potential that this was all an act. "Everyone's here. Okay, hero. Set me free."

Snake reaimed his gun as Otacon turned around, covering his ears with his hands. He fired before he could think about it too hard, and the deed was done.

Slowly, Otacon turned back around and looked down on her. "You said love could bloom on a battlefield...but I couldn't protect her." He sniffled.

Snake couldn't think of anything to say, so he turned to the door leading to the underground base. "I'm going. We're out of time. Don't trust anyone, you have to protect yourself now."

"I know."

"If I can't stop Metal Gear, this place will probably get bombed to hell. We might not meet again."

"I've still got my codec, I wanna keep helping."

He headed towards the door. "Alright. But you can leave anytime. Get a headstart...on your new life."

"Wait!" He cried out just as Snake was about to disappear through the large double doors. "What was she fighting for? What am I fighting for? What are you fighting for?!"

Snake looked off into the distance before turning back to him. "If we make it through this, i'll tell you."

"Okay...I'll be searching too." And they headed their separate ways.

After descending through a staircase, they came out in a strange area. It was filled with pools and vats of molten metal. It was very warm. Snake couldn't think of any reason why molten metal would be needed in a underground base like this one. Disregarding it for now, he moved forward across catwalks, breaking the necks of any guards who he got close enough to. He went down another set of stairs before being spotted on accident, then simply having to quickly mow every guard in the area down.

After the molten metal area, there was a massive cargo elevator. He boarded it and sent it slowly downwards into the depths of the base. After a boring ride down, he found he had to take another cargo elevator. Patamon insisted he could simply carry him down by digivolving, but Snake didn't want to bring possible attention to themselves. So they began what looked to be a very long ride.

But nothing is boring for long. His codec rang and Master Miller's voice began speaking.

"Snake...there's something I've got to tell you about Naomi Hunter."

"What?"

"Is this conversation secure?"

Snake made sure the convo was cut off from anyone tapping in or listening. "Yeah. Go ahead."

"I was in the FBI too. And Naomi's story sounded a little fishy, so I checked it out. About her grandfather being an assistant secretary to Grohl in the early days of the SBI and then going undercover to investigate the mafia in Rayburn."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"It was all a big lie."

"What?!"

"It was bothering me...she might be a spy, I'm afraid."

"Ridiculous!"

"Gimme a break. A high school student could see through it. Dave Grohl...well, he was a well known racist. Naomi said her father was Japanese. Back then there wasn't a single asian investigator. Also, undercover mafia sting operations didn't even start until around 2025...in Santom, not Rayburn."

"But...but..."

"Check it out. The chief and president dying...the ninja...strange things are happening. Either Naomi's behind it, or she's working with the terrorists."

He groaned. That was the last thing he needed.

"I'll call if I find anything. Be careful!"

The elevator slowed to a halt at the bottom. A massive door was visible at the end of the hallway. As they headed towards it...it got colder...considerably. Strange. The door slid open, revealing a room filled with metal boxes...and it was as cold as a refridgerator. Curious indeed.

But these things took a backseat to the fact that Vulcan Raven was standing atop a metal box close to the door, holding a massive gatling gun.

"Welcome! This is the end of the road for you! Right, my friends?" Snake noticed several ravens flying about the room. They began to give their cry. "Yes. They agree. Ravens aren't scavengers like most people think...They are simply returning to the natural world that which is no longer needed. Sometimes they even attack wounded foxes."

"You were the one in the tank, right? Must have been a tight fit."

He gave a loud, resounded laugh. "That was no true battle." He jumped from the box, landing with a thud on the floor. "We were testing to see what kind of man you were. You live in Damon too. You know of the olympics the natives hold there?"

"I know of it. You must be a real threat in the "Muk-Tuk" eating contest."

He gave another loud laugh. Easy guy to entertain. "Correct you are. But my favorite event is the "Ear Pull." Two opponents stand outside in the cold, pulling on each others ears. It tests spiritual as well as physical strength."

"You wanna pull each others ears?"

"The form will be different...but the spirit the same. Now, let us have a glorious battle." He raised the gatling gun up to them.

"Nothing glorious about this. This is killing. Violence isn't a sport!" He saw Patamon looking around, confused. "And where the hell is your partner?!"

"We will see if there is iron in your words! As for my partner...let's just say he and I have achieved a relationship on a level unheard of." He smiled, and the gun began to spin, about to spit hot led at the two.

They began dashing to the left, around boxes, while Patamon went up to his ultimate form of Magnaangemon. Both had a feeling it might be needed for this guy.

He patrolled around, his trigger finger constantly itchy. Bullets spit out just barely missing either of them, as they lamely tried to attack him rather ineffectually. He was fast, big, tough, smart, accurate...very nearly perfect.

Finally, Magnaangemon decided all he could do was to simply charge in on him, take the punishment, and beat up on him. Meanwhile, Snake would go behind him and fire off his SOCOM, for all the good it did to be honest.

The fight went on for some time, alot of running from the gatling gun, occasionally dashing out to peck at him and then running again. Eventually, they began to wear away at him, and then Snake decided to end it here. He ran behind him, and slowed by his injuries, he didn't make a move to stop him from jumping onto his back and pumping bullets into his skull until he fell over.

And then it was over. He fell over, grabbing his head, tossing his gun to the side like a toy, defeated.

"Yes...just as the boss said. My existance is no longer needed in this world." He said slowly, somehow alive inspite of the several slugs having gone through his brain. God damn.

"But my body will not remain in this place. My spirit and my flesh will become one with the ravens. In that way I will return to Mother Earth who bore me. Snake! My spirit will be watching you... understand?" Ravens from around began descending down on him, pecking at him slowly.

"Snake...take this patch...it will open that door." He pointed to the door in the back of the chilled room.

"Why?"

"You are a snake which was not created by Nature. You and the Boss...you are from another world...a world that I do not wish to know. Go and do battle with him. I will be watching from above." He looked over at the ravens pecking at him. "I'll give you a hint. The man you saw die before your eyes...the man who appeared to be the DARPA chief..."

Snake recalled watching the elder man convulse and die in his cell, moaning 'why' over and over again as he did.

"...that was not the DARPA chief."

"What?!"

"It was Decoy Octopus. A master of disguise. He drained the chief's blood so he could copy him perfectly. But...he wasn't able to deceive the angel of death."

"The angel of death? What? But why did he impersonate the chief?"

"That is the end of my hint." Ravens began covering his body, slowly pecking away. Snake and Patamon began to walk away. "In the natural world, there is no such thing as a boundless slaughter. There is always an end to it. But you are different. The path you walk on has no end. Each step you take is paved with the corpses of your enemies... Their souls will haunt you forever...you shall have no peace...Hear me, Snake! My spirit will be watching you!"

Snake turned back to Raven, about to say something, but all that remained was his massive gun and bones.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Betrayal

As Snake turned to resume is walk through the large door ahead, toward Metal Gear REX, his codec rang. Master Miller.

"Snake, it's about Naomi. Make sure this conversation is se-"

"What about Naomi?" Campbell demanded. He had been listening, and caught Master's quick comment.

"Damn!" Miller exclaimed. "Is Naomi there?"

"No, I let her take a short nap until her services are needed. What's this all about?"

"Okay. The colonel should probably hear this too then."

"Go on, Master..."

"In short, Dr. Naomi Hunter is not Dr. Naomi Hunter at all."

Campbell and Snake were nearly simultaneous in their exclamations of "What?!"

"I dug around after her background story was so obviously a lie. There is a Dr. Naomi Hunter. Or rather I should say there was...but she's not the woman we know. Naomi Hunter disappeared on Texic some years ago. The woman we know must have gotten her identifications papers somehow."

"Do you know who she is really?"

"No, not by name. But she must be some kind of spy...maybe sent to sabatoge this operation."

"You mean to say she's with the terrorists?!" Campbell was beginning to sound really terrified...as if this meant more than Snake thought it might have.

"Well...she is working for FOX-HOUND. It's possible she's part of the revolution. Or she might be working with a different group all together. Place her under arrest."

"What?!" He sounded strangely indecisive, as if that wasn't the obvious thing to do.

"She needs to be interrogated to find out who she's with."

"...if she's one of their spies...we're in big trouble..." he managed quietly.

"Have you let her in on some vital secret or something?" Master inquired. He was met with silence, so pressed on. "Does this have anything to do with the mysterious deaths of the DARPA Chief or the ArmsTech president?"

"No...no idea."

"We can't allow her further participation in this mission, Colonel."

"No...we can't complete this mission without her."

"Hah. You're hiding something, I knew it." Snake spat. He was getting really sick of all this deception.

"I'll try and get it out of her, give me some time..."

"I don't have any time left for you." Snake grunted, cutting off the convo and marching through the door ahead. On the other side lay a sight to behold. Metal Gear REX, in all it's glory, standing in the middle of the gigantic garage. If Snake and Patamon didn't know it was capable of destroying this planet, they might have really appriciated it.

But as it stood, both were bent on stopping it from ever going active. Otacon interuptted their process of taking it all in by ringing in on the codec.

"Snake...I found a good place to hide. I heard a couple of guards saying Metal Gear is all ready, they even input the PAL codes."

"Damn." He looked up at the beast. "I'm right in front of it...but it's strange." He looked around the room, slowly covering it with his eyes. It was the same dull gray, a few armored crates laying around here and there...something was wrong. "Nobody's here. No guards or anything...too quit." He pulled out the lone card key Meryl had given him, looking at it. "Otacon...I really don't want to have to fight this thing. Any chance I could still use the card keys?"

"I don't know how to use them, or where the other two are...but I've got a plan. I'm in the computer room trying to access Baker's private files. He must know."

"Wouldn't you need a password?"

"Well...yes. But there are ways..."

"Are you a hacker?"

"That describes me pretty well." He almost said it proudly. "I think I can get in."

"I'm counting on you." He turned his gaze up towards the roof, and saw a small bunker-like room near the top. A ladder led up to it. It looked like the control room, in any case. Nothing else in the room looked like it might be. They began climbing up the rungs, listening to Otacon talk seemingly to himself through the codec.

"Alright...there goes the third security level...he was a careful guy. Never met a system I couldn't crack into though." It was quite a long ladder, so he got a play by play of Otacon's hacking before he got to the top. Finally, he announced his success. "I got past security! I'm in the confidential Metal Gear file..."

"What does it say about the PAL override system?"

"I haven't found it yet...but I found something else. The new nuclear warhead. Remember the rail gun I said Metal Gear has? This warhead is designed to be fired from that gun, like a projectile. Since it doesn't use fuel, it's not really a missile. Can get around all sorts of international treaties."

"Sneaky." Was all Snake had to say.

"And that's not all. It's a stealth weapon! You see, stealth missiles have been a running project of countries for decades, but the rocket propulsion from the missile makes it impossible. But a rail gun projectile doesn't burn propellant, so it won't be detected by radar. Impossible to intercept, and it's got a surface piercing warhead that can blow right into underground bases regardless of armor!"

"I'm familiar with those." He grunted, recalling some painful memories as he came up on the catwalk the ladder ended in. The control room was just to his left. A second catwalk led out to what appeared to be the cockpit of Metal Gear. "Colonel, are you listening? Is this true?"

"I'm listening..." He responded slowly.

"If word of this got out, it could delay the signing of the Start 3 Treaty and cause a huge international incident. Server would be denounced by the rest of the world...it could even bring down the president. Did you know this?"

"...I'm sorry."

"You've changed, Colonel."

"This is the ultimate weapon if I've ever seen it. Snake, look, this weapon has never been tested, only simulated in a computer. That's why they were running this exercise."

"And the results of the exercise? Can you find them?"

"I can't find the data anywhere on the network...but it looks like it was better than they hoped for. You'd think that kind of data would be-"

"Baker gave it to me. An optical disc with all the test data."

Campbell finally worked up the nerve to talk again. "Do you still have it?!"

"No. Ken took it. It wasn't with my gear when I got it back."

"...dammit."

"I'm still looking for how to override it. I think the terrorists really are going to be able to launch it, they just replaced the dummy warhead with a real one."

Snake glanced into the control room through the window and noticed Liquid and Ken talking inside for the first time. He had been so wrapped up in the convo he hadn't even noticed. He pressed himself up to the wall next to the door, which was oddly left wide open. This just kept getting weirder and weirder.

"Okay, the PAL codes are entered and the safety device is off. We can launch anytime." Ken was informing his boss.

"No response from Server. Looks like they need to know we mean business." He turned to look out at REX. "Also, change the target. From Auston, Buffet, to...Lopnor, File Island."

"Why?"

"I'm sure neither you nor Mr. Gurlukovich really want to see a nuclear bomb dropped on the country you love, right?"

"Well, yes. But there's nothing there."

"Not quite. It's a secret nuclear test site. If we nuke a major population center...well that's it. A nuclear explosion at a test site can be contained, concealed from the public. And Server will worry about a retaliation from File Island in the meanwhile. In the process of negotiations, the president will be forced to reveal his new and highly dangerous nuclear weapon to File Island. That will destroy their reputation. And when the other countries hear of this new weapon, they'll all want to contact us. And we can sell Server's own system to the highest bidder. Or at least, we can begin to. I'm sure the president will give in to our demands when the other choice is letting Metal Gear get bought off by another country."

"Yes. I see. Takeru's DNA, and one billion dollars." Snake pursed his lips. He wasn't aware about the money part.

"The money will also be used to cure the soldiers. And i've added the FoxDie vaccine to our demands."

"It's odd, Liquid. FoxDie killed Octopus and President Baker...perhaps it affects older people first? Mantis wore a mask, so perhaps he wasn't affected. And Wolf because of those tranquilizers?"

"Perhaps. I'll bet FoxDie is still experimental and still has a few bugs. In any case, have you heard from your friend, Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich at the Spetznaz?"

It was Ken's turn to look out at Rex. "He has doubts about Metal Gear's ability. He wants to talk after the test is successful. But there's nothing to worry about. He wants it so bad he can taste it. If Buffet wants to regain it's position as a superpower, they need a weapon like this. He knows it as well as I."

"Huh. Their army is in shambles and he wants nuclear weapons? Gurlukovich is no warrior...he's nothing more than a politician."

"Let's not forget he gave us our firepower and the Hind."

"Hmm. He has over a thousand soldiers at his command. If we were to join forces...the genome soldier's brainwashing has started to wear off since Mantis died. Their morale is getting low. If we were to ally with Buffet, that would boost that as well..."

"Boss. What are you saying?"

"Yes! We're not going anywhere. We'll just dig in here! We've got the most powerful weapon ever made and we're about to ally with Gurlukovich!"

"To fight the whole world?"

"Why not? We can launch an invisible warhead anywhere, and we've got thousands of warheads in this facility. Once we get the DNA and money, the world is ours!"

"And what of your promise to Gurlukovich?"

He scoffed. "I have no interest in the revival of Buffet."

Snake hoped Ken would react violently. No such luck. "...no...you're not thinking of reviving Takeru's dream?"

"Yes...from this day on, just call this place..."Outer Heaven."" He finished with gusto.

"If you say so. Say, you're not worried about the PAL being overridden? If the code gets entered again, it'll be deactivated. If Snake finds out..."

"He won't. You said yourself, he didn't have any idea when you interrogated him."

"Fair enough. And the woman?"

"Let her live. She'll make a good ace-in-the-hole. Campbell's niece and Snake cares for her."

So Meryl was alive. But his relief was wiped away when his codec beeped. Otacon. He brought more good news, however.

"Snake, I found it. I found the file about the PAL override. The card keys..lemme read through this. If you insert keys when the warhead is active, it becomes inactive...and vice versa. And the cards can only be used once. You better get started, we don't have much time."

"But you need three keys, right?! I've only got one!"

"Wait...hold on...found it! You already have all three keys. That's the trick! The card key is made of a shape memory alloy. It changes shape at different temperatures. See the input terminals in the center of the room?"

Snake peered out to look, spotting them. He also noticed that Liquid and Ken had disappeared, somehow. He noticed a trap door in the floor...but why would they suddenly leave. But he couldn't think about that right now. "Yeah I see them."

"Okay, the one on the left, you input the room temperature key. The middle one is the low temperature key. Then the right one is the high temperature key."

"Got it." He walked into the room. He quickly pivoted and saw a camera...inactive. Strange.

"The world is riding on that key, Snake."

"That explains the hot and cold rooms...to change the key." He looked around. "Would it have killed them to just put a freezer and microwave in here?" He inserted the key into the left terminal.

"PAL code number one confirmed. Awaiting PAL code number two..." a computer voice confirmed.

He pulled the card out and gave it to Patamon. "Can you take care of this?"

Patamon nodded, thrilled at the prospect of saving the world like this, and flew out the room. The path back to the freezer room was deserted. He set the card down on the ground, flying laps around it, watching it slowly change shape. It was kind of cool, how it warped into a second shape. The difference wasn't great, but just great enough. Once it stopped, he grabbed it and headed back.

As soon as Patamon flew back into the control room, Snake grabbed the card and inserted it.

"PAL code number two confirmed. Awaiting PAL code number three..."

He pulled it back out and handed it to Patamon, who flew back out towards the molten metal room. This would take considerably longer. But there was never a dull moment, his codec rang. Master Miller.

"It's about Naomi Hunter...cut us off."

"Okay, no one can hear us. Go ahead."

"Sorry, I don't want the Colonel to hear. I've got this friend high up in Server...he told me about this new weapon the DIA recently developed. An assassination weapon. Have you heard of something called "Fox Die"?"

"...yes, just now. Otacon and Liquid mentioned it."

"It's a virus that targets specific people. I don't know the details, but...it's too similar. Apperantly, Fox Die kills victims by simulating a heart attack." Snake recalled the deaths of Baker and Octopus. Like a heart attack.

"So Naomi was behind this you're saying?"

"Did she give you some kind of...injection?"

"Yes."

"She was in a good position to do it, but I don't know her motive. Apperantly, the colonel still hasn't questioned her."

"I'll ask him myself." He patched into the Colonel. "Status with Naomi?"

"I just placed her under arrest. She was sending coded messages to the warhead facility, she has to be working with the terrorists. She's being interrogated now."

"...how?"

"I'd like to avoid the rough stuff...but we don't have a choice i'm afraid."

"Call me if you find anything. Naomi...I can't believe it."

Miller chimed back in. "The Fox Die vaccine must be around somewhere. You know, you might be infected as well."

"I can't worry about that right now." The convo cut, and he stood there, waiting. Another call. Naomi.

"Snake, can you hear me?"

"Naomi?! What the hell?!"

"I'm on a different codec...they're busy right now."

"Is it true?"

"...yes. But not everything was a lie. I don't know myself. I don't know my real name or even what my parents looked like. I bought all my identification. But my reason for getting into genetics was true."

"You wanted to know yourself..."

"I was found in Rhodesia some time in the 30's...dirty little orphan. I was alone for so long...then I met my big brother...and him."

"Your big brother?"

"Yes...Frank Jaeger."

"What?!"

"He was a young soldier when he found me. I was half dead, and he shared his rations with me. Yes. Frank Jaeger, Gray Fox, the man who you destroyed, was my only family."

"We survived that hell together. He's my only connection to the past."

"He brought you to Server?"

"No...that was him. Takeru. He brought us to this great land. But then he and my brother went back to continue the war. And later...that's when it happened. You killed my benefactor and sent my brother home a cripple. I vowed revenge on you, and joined FOXHOUND. I prayed for the day I'd finally meet you...a twisted obsession...two long years..."

"Do you still hate me?" He was oddly calm inspite all of this. Must be his genes.

"No...I was partly wrong about you."

"What about Liquid and the others?"

"Oh, i'll have my revenge on them as well. After my brother killed Dr. Clark, I covered it up and helped him hide out. But...Snake...I don't think he's come there to kill you. He just wants to fight you. A final battle with you...that's what he lives for. I'm sure of it."

"...no...Fox...Naomi, about-"

"Foxdie? It's a retrovirus that targets people by their DNA. To put it simply, the victim suffers a simulated heart attack."

"Naomi...you programmed it to kill me too, right? Naomi, please, I don't blame you for wanting me dead. But I have a job to do. I can't go yet."

"I don't know when it will take effect, but...Snake...you were injected with FoxDie as part of this mission."

"What?!"

"I wanted to let you know that...also...I...I..." The codec cut suddenly. Campbell picked up where it left off.

"Snake, I can't allow Naomi to make any more transmissions. She's been removed from this operation."

"Colonel! What did she mean by FoxDie being a part-what happened to-...let me talk to her!"

"I can't do that, Snake."

"You son of a bitch! You double crossed me!"

"Snake, right now you're job it to destroy Metal Gear. Okay? There's no time for that now!" The connection cut, and Snake was left to fume and ponder if he should fire the warhead himself out of spite.

But when Patamon came around the corner, a 3rd key in tow, Snake dutifully placed it in the slot.

"PAL code number three confirmed. PAL code entry complete...Detonation code activated."

"What?! No! I deactivated it!"

"Ready for launch..."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Metal Gear REX

He pounded on the computer uselessly as it continued to blare 'ready for launch' over and over again. Then, through his codec, he learn the terrible sound of laughter. Master Miller.

"Thank you, Snake. Nothing can stop Metal Gear now."

"Master?! What's going on?!"

"You found the key...even activated the warhead for us. I really must express my gratitude. You see, Mantis couldn't read the DARPA chief's mind. And then Ocelot killed him by accident in the interrogation. We were all getting a little worried. Without the threat of a nuclear strike, our demands would never be met. That's when I decided you'd be useful. First, I tried getting the information from you, Snake. Octopus disguised himself as the DARPA chief. Octopus didn't survive the encounter with you, thanks to FoxDie. But he did manage to push you in the right direction."

"You mean...you had this planned from the beginning?!" He could kick himself. How could he not see this coming.

Another sharp laugh. "You didn't think you got this far by yourself, did you? In any case, we're all ready to launch. Server will have no choice soon. Their ace-in-the-hole is useless now."

"What are you talking about?!"

"Oh Snake, you're the only one who doesn't know. Poor fool. I'll tell you everything you want to know, if you come to where I am. I'm very close by."

"Snake!" Campbell interjected. "That's not Master Miller! We just managed to trace his codec signals, they're coming from inside the base! They were bouncing off Master Miller's house, but we just managed to trace it back! And we've just sent some men to check, Miller's been dead for at least three days inside his house! Snake, you've been talking to..."

"me...dear brother." Miller's voice took on the english accent he was familiar with by now. Liquid.

"How the...?!" He ran outside as fast as he could, Patamon by his side. The cockpit to metal gear slid open, and there sat Liquid in it, waving. He aimed his SOCOM at his brother.

"You'd point a gun at your own brother?"

"Why'd you disguise yourself as master?!"

"To manipulate you more easily. And you performed very well. I'm sure the boys in the server government are saying the same thing though. Following orders blindly? No questions asked? You've lost your warrior's pride, snake!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Stopping the launch, rescuing the hostages...it was all just a big diversion Snake. All Server needed was for you to come into contact with us. That's what killed Baker and Octopus. You were only sent in here to kill us so they could retrieve metal gear and the bodies of the genome soldiers! From the beginning, you were nothing more than a vector to spread FoxDie!

"FoxDie?! Are you telling me Naomi was working with the pentagon?!" He kept his gun leveled at Liquid, but wanted to hear him out.

"They thought she was, but she couldn't be controlled so easily. We've got a spy working in Server who reported that Dr. Hunter altered FoxDie's program just before the operation. No one knows how or why though. I had no idea she was motivated by petty revenge. But it doesn't matter, I've already added the FoxDie vaccine to my list of demands. But it might not be needed anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"You came into contact with all of us, so we were all exposed to the virus. But only Baker and Octopus were killed by it. Everyone else was unaffected. Probably a bug. In any case, as long as it doesn't kill you, I'm not worried. Our genetic code is identical, after all."

"So...it is true. You and I are-"

"Yes. Twins. Not ordinary twins, however. Twins linked by cursed genes. Les Enfants Terribles." He grunted, looking down at the ground. "You're fine. You got all the old man's dominant genes!" He looked up, shouting now. "I got all the flawed, recessive genes! Everything was done so you would be the greatest of his children. I only exist so they could create you!" He spat.

"I was the favorite, huh."

"Same for your Patamon to mine! He's got the dominant gene's from the old man's partner, mine got stuck with leftovers! Can you understand what it's like to know that your garbage from the day you were born?!" A long pause. "And yet...I'm the one father chose."

"That's why your obsessed with Takeru. Some warped kind of love."

He snapped his head back up at him. "Love?! It's hate! He always told me I was inferior and now I'll have my revenge! You should understand, you killed our father with your own hands! And in doing so, stole my chance for revenge! But now...i'll finish the work our father began. I will surpass...and destroy him!"

"Huh. You're just like Naomi."

"Well I'm not like you. Unlike you, I'm proud of the destiny encoded into my very genes!" He slapped a button, and before Snake could react, the cockpit slammed shut and Metal Gear REX began to activate. "Your blood will be the first to spill from this glorious new weapon! Consider it an honor! Now I'll show you the power of this weapon!"

"Damn!" Snake jumped onto the ladder leading to the area below and slid down as REX went active. It's many machine gun turrets whirred to life, a small rocket pack on it glowed in anticipation of it's imminent launching, and it's many DNAT knickknacks roared to life. Dozens of attacks from Mega forms of all sorts prepared to launch.

Patamon wasted no time taking his Seraphimon form, nevermind that this Metal Gear REX probably had the power of about a hundred megas put together. What else could they do?

Snake ducked behind one of the fuel tanks, praying it was re-enforced, while formulating a plan. There was only one thing to do. Try and destroy REX. He looked down to his right and saw a rocket launcher with a box of rockets. Who left this here? Realization struck him, and he looked around quickly for the cyborg ninja...but he was nowhere to be found. Quickly loading, he dared a peek out at REX, and saw Seraphimon already unloading all he had at REX. REX was doing the same to Snake's partner. This could get ugly.

He aimed up at the Radome just to the right of the 'head' of REX. It was his best bet to do any damage, destroy the gyrostabilizer that allowed it to walk. He fired off his pair of rockets, watching them crash resoundingly into the radome. It seemed to be doing something, REX would reel back after every hit...but that might just be impact damage. He winced, watching Giga Cannons, Tera Forces, Rivers of Power, and many more oh so deadly attacks tear into Seraphimon. He didn't even care, he was just giving REX all he had before he himself was spent.

After unloading several more rockets at the Radome, REX began to wobble, and small explosions within the joints became visible.

"Did I do it?" He dared to ask as it appeared to be ready to fall down. But then it righted itself. "Damn!"

"Nice try, Snake!" Having knocked Seraphimon out for the moment, he was walking towards Snake. "Now die!" He lifted his foot up, about to stomp on Snake.

Out of nowhere, a blur jumped under the foot and grabbed it, holding it up while Snake ran. Gray Fox.

"Get away!" He cried, pushing on the foot with all his strength.

"Gray Fox!" He yelled, backing out from under the foot.

"A name from long ago...it sounds better than Deepthroat. You look terrible, Snake. You haven't aged well."

"You?!" Liquid screamed. "I'll send you back to hell!" The foot lifted up, aiming to come down with force on Fox. But his flipped away and, using a ray gun of sorts attached to his arm to shoot the radome. REX faltered again, slipping around, while Fox ran behind the box Snake had used as cover.

"Snake...I'm a prisoner of death. Only you can free me."

"Fox, please...stay out of this. What about Naomi? She's hell bent on taking revenge for you. You're the only one who can stop her."

"No...I can't." He wheezed. He still had that raspy voice that hurt to listen to.

"Why?!"

"Because...I'm the one who killed her parents. I was young, and couldn't bring myself to kill her. I felt so bad, I took her with me. I raised her like she was my younger sister to soothe my guilty conscience."

"No...Fox..." He peered out and saw Metal Gear regaining it's composure, still giving off small explosions internally.

"We may have seemed a happy brother and sister. But every time I looked into her eyes, I saw her parent's eyes staring back. Tell her for me, please. Now, here's a final present from deepthroat!" He jumped from the cover just as Metal Gear began firing machine guns at the box. It was armored well, but couldn't stand up for much longer. Snake ran out, watching Fox run up under it.

But Liquid was ready. He fired the railgun, forcing Fox to jump up high into the air. Then, when he wasn't able to dodge any projectiles, use the laser to cut off his arm. Blood splattered as the arm went flying, even the strong exoskeleton was no match for a high powered laser. But he seemed...unfazed by the loss of his arm. He jumped up onto a ledge about as high as REX's head, and turned to fire the cannon from his good arm. But then, he was crushed against the wall by what could best be described as REX's 'nose', and was being grinded against it.

"I'm not used to hunting Foxes!" Liquid taunted. "More used to jackals myself. My my, your exoskeleton really is strong."

Fox managed to lift is arm and unloaded a series of shots at the radome, knocking it off, then firing at the wires revealed by the fallen radome, causing the cockpit to suddenly open.

"A cornered fox is more dangerous than a jackal!"

"My. You really are worthy of the codename 'Fox'! But now, you're finished!" He began pounding REX against Fox, unable to close the cockpit inspite of his efforts.

"Snake!" He managed inbetween groans. "Fire the rocket!"

"Can you really shoot?!" Liquid asked. "You'll kill him too!"

Snake looked up at the cockpit, taking aim. But he was right. He knew Fox was dead regardless...but he couldn't do it. REX continued to pound away at him, Fox giving his last words inbetween crushing blows.

"Now...in front of you. I can finally die. After Zanzibar...I was taken from the battle...neither truly alive nor truly dead...an undying shadow in the world of lights. But soon...soon. It will finally...end."

Giving up, Liquid dragged Fox off the perch with his nose, let him fall to the ground, and stepped on him hard.

"Snake." Fox managed, looking at him. "Snake, we're not tools of the government or anyone else! Fighting was the only thing...the only thing I was good at, but...At least I always fought for what I believed in...Snake...farewell." And then, Liquid picked up the foot, and stomped down hard. The skeleton broke, and blood splattered everywhere from under it.

"No! Fox!" He cried, inspite of the fact he knew it was going to happen.

"Foolish man! He prayed for death, and it found him. You see? You can't protect anyone? Not even yourself!" REX turned it's attention back to Snake. "Now die!" The fight began again. This time it was Snake VS. Rex, one on one.

But this time, the cockpit was wide open. Snake raised his rocket launcher and fired off a pair of rockets. Both hit the open cockpit, causing Metal Gear to heave back and forth as the control panels malfunctioned. Liquid, still alive somehow, was trying to goad it into stepping on Snake.

"Snake! I'll crush you into dust!" He cried. But then, REX fell over, exploded with such a force that threw Snake against the wall. He saw it fall in on itself, falling apart in the force of the explosions...after a few minutes, he managed to open his eyes and saw Liquid slowly walking towards him. But he didn't have the energy or sense to care. He let the world go to black.

-----------------------------------------------------

When he awoke, he looked around slowly. After a moment of confusion, he realized he was sitting on what was left of the head of REX. His hands were tied behind his back. He looked down to his right and saw Patamon, his wings and hands strapped down to his body, still not yet awake.

"Sleeping late as usual?" That english accent. Where was it from? Oh yeah, Liquid. He looked up, he was standing, looking at the wall, his back to him.

"You're alive?" Memories flooded back to him.

"I won't die...not so long as you live."

"Looks like your revolution was a failure." He looked around at the wreakage of REX.

"Not quite. Metal Gear may be destroyed, but i'm not done fighting. Fighting for a world where warriors like us are honored as we once were and should be."

"That was Takeru's dream."

"His dying wish! When was was young in the cold war, the world needed men like us. We were valued. Now...war is not what it used to be with the liars and hypocrites running the world. We're losing our place in this world! You should know this as well as I do. Once I launch this weapon and get our billion dollars, we can bring chaos and honor back into this world go soft. Conflict breeds conflict, hatred will arise...then we can expand our sphere of influence."

"But as long as there are people, there will always be war."

"Yes...but there needs to be balance. Father knew what kind of balance was best."

"Is that the only reason?"

"Isn't it reason enough?"

"I don't want that kind of world!"

"You lie! Consider...why are you here? You keep following orders no matter how many times your superiors betray you! Why are you here?"

Snake couldn't think of anything to say.

"I'll tell you then. You enjoy all the killing, that's why!"

"What?!"

"You deny it? You've already killed most of my comrades!"

"That was..." he trailed off.

"I watched your face when you did it. Filled with the joy of battle."

"You're wrong!"

"There's a killer inside of you...don't deny it. We were created to be that way."

Snake was pulled off his tangent by this. "Created? What?"

"Ah yes...of course, you don't know. Very well, I will tell you."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Les Enfants Terribles

"Before you killed father, he revealed that he was...well, your father. But you didn't give him a chance at the whole story. Same with Patamon here. But I know." He cleared his throat. "Les Enfants Terribles...the terrible children. That's what the project was called. In 2025, father was injured in battle and fell into a coma. This reminded the world of his mortality. As great a man as he was, he was still a mortal, he could die. So, in 2025, while he was in a coma, they began 'Les Enfants Terribles'. Their plan was to artificially create the most powerful soldier possible. They used the greatest living soldier in the world as the model."

"Takeru." Snake said slowly.

"Yes. They created us from his cells. A combination of analog cloning and the super baby method."

"Super baby method?"

"They fertilized an egg with one of father's cells, and let it divide into eight clone babies. They transferred those clones into a uterus. Later, they intentionally aborted six of the fetuses to encourage strong fetal growth. You and I were originally octuplets."

He almost smiled. Nice thought, almost.

"The other six of our brothers were sacrificed to make us. Accomplices in murder before we were even born. So it was just the two of us, two fertilized eggs with the same DNA. They weren't finished yet, however." He began to raise his voice, slowly turning to face Snake finally. "They used me as a guinea pig! To create a phenotype in which all of the dominant genes were expressed...to create you. I got all of the recessive genes! You took everything from me before I was even born!" He pointed his partner out, which Snake finally took note of. "He, as well, suffered this indignity."

He then pointed at himself. "Why, look at me! Do you know why I look different from Takeru, while you look exactly the same?"

"No."

"They say, after Takeru came out of his coma and was informed of the project, he requested that the inferior one be...designed" he spat the word out, running his fingers through his hair "so that it looked as if he was the offspring of him and this girl he had loved! Can you imagine, I was thought so little of, he decided he could use ME to play dressup in his fantasy land!"

This time, Snake couldn't help but laugh. Funny thought.

"But you and I aren't his only children...in a sense." He motioned around with his hands. "The genome soldiers are too his progeny. They carry his genetic legacy. They're different, sure, they're digital. You see, the completion of the human genome project laid the mysteries of humanity bare. Father's DNA allowed scientists to identify over sixty soldier genes. These genes were transplanted into the membranes of the NGSF. The genome soldiers you've been killing are our brothers, the same genes as ours."

"That's a stretch." He muttered.

"Hardly. They have been created to mimic father's genes as well. The produce of many sacrifices. You know of the island wars of 2042? The military secretly injected soldiers with the soldier genes. The island war syndrome thousands complained about was a side effect."

"Hah! Everyone knows IWS was caused by exposure to depleted uranium used in anti-tank rounds."

"That was just a cover story."

"So then...the babies born from those soldiers would be-"

"Yes! Our brothers and sisters."

"So I suppose the experiments were a success?"

"Success?" He spat at the ground. "They're a total failure! Have you ever heard of the Asymmetry Theory? Nature favors asymmetry. Those species which have gone extinct all show signs of symmetry. The genome soldiers...I...you...all suffer from the same problem. We are all on the verge of extinction at the genetic level. That's why we need the old man's genetic information, to figure when and what type of disease might occur."

"You want Takeru's DNA to save your family? How touching."

"In nature, family members don't mate with each other. But they help each other to survive. Why? It increases the chance their genes go on to the next generation. Altruism among blood relatives is a response to natural selection. It's called the Selfish Gene Theory."

"So your genes are ordering you to save the genome soldiers?"

"You can't fight your genes. It's fate. Living things are born so they can pass on their parents genes. I'll listen to what my genes tell me to do...and then go beyond. Break the curse of my heritage. To do that...first I will kill you. Look behind you!"

Snake complied, turning his head. Meryl was lying unconscious on a piece of wreakage of Metal Gear. Gatomon lay beside her. Actually...he wasn't sure if she was dead or not. "Meryl?! Is she still alive?!"

"Yes. She has to be. Just barely though. Poor girl kept calling your name when she was awake." He scoffed. "Stupid woman. Falling in love with a man who doesn't even have a name..."

Slowly, he turned back to face Liquid. "I have a name..."

"No! We have no past, no future. Even if we did, it wouldn't even be ours. We're just copies of our father."

"Let her go!"

"As soon as we've finished our business. We're almost out of time."

"Why? You mean FoxDie?"

"No, I don't think that's something to worry about anymore. It seems that Server has learned that Metal Gear is destroyed, and has now reached a decision. Call your precious Colonel Campbell for the details.

"Colonel..." he patched into his codec. "Can you hear me?"

"I'm listening."

"What's going on? Colonel! Colonel! Answer me!"

"...the secretary of defense has taken over control of this operation. He on his way there right now."

"Why?!"

"...to bomb the place."

"What?! Metal Gear is destroyed! Tell him!"

"He heard that Naomi double crossed us, and he's worried about FoxDie. Now that Metal Gear is destroyed, he's just going to nuke the place to cover up what really happened!" A long pause. "Snake...don't worry. I'll stop the nuclear strike."

"How?"

"I'm only a figurehead here, but officially I'm still in command of this mission. I'll issue an order to delay the strike to confuse the chain of command and buy you some time! You can escape while they're confused."

"But...Colonel...if you do that-"

"It's okay. The truth is, FOX-HOUND was already the subject of an undercover investigation. Meryl was transferred to this base just before the attack as a way of manipulating me."

"Those bastards..." he felt a pang of pity for Campbell, something he would have thought impossible over the last few hours.

"I'm sorry. All those lies I told you...they forced me to tell them in exchange for her life. Get out of there, Snake."

"It'll be bad for you."

"Don't worry. It's the least I can after all the lies. I'm ordering them to cancel the bombing run-"

The connection cut. A moment later, a new voice, one he didn't know, began talking. Not to him, he must be picking up a conversation with somebody right by him.

"What happened?!" He demanded. "What happened to the colonel?!"

"Roy Campbell has been relieved of duty. This is the secretary of defense, Jim Houseman."

"Put the colonel back on!"

"He's been placed under arrest for leaking top-secret information and high treason."

"Ridiculous!"

"Yes...he is ridiculous indeed. He thought he was in command of this operation."

"You bastard!"

"Yes. There won't be a speck of evidence left. I'm sure the president would want the same thing."

"What? The president ordered this?"

"The president is a busy man. I have authority here."

"How will you explain a nuclear explosion?"

"I'll simply feed the public that the terrorists accidentally exploded a nuclear device. A convincing cover story. Donald Anderson, the DARPA chief, is already dead-"

"And you just don't give a shit about anyone else, huh?"

"Yes. But if you give me the optic disc, I'll consider saving them."

"...I don't have it."

"Oh well. That's fine. You two are an embarrassment from the 20's, our country's dirty little secret. Killing you two is just an added bonus. Well, you two must have alot catching up to do." The connection cut.

Liquid walked up to Snake and undid his hands. Patamon began to wake, and Liquid released him as well. "As you can see, there's nothing we can do. So let's finish this before the strike. You stole everything from me. Only your death can satisfy me." He pointed to Meryl, who had a blinking box right next to her. "That blinking box is a bomb, set to detonate as soon as Meryl's heart stops beating. To motivate you into fighting, let's say. If you win quickly, you might be able to wake her and keep her alive until the strike. You could share one brief moment of love."

"Fine." He raised his fists. No technology or wizardy in this, just old fashioned fighting. Like he liked it.

"Our partners can fight it out as well. If yours is up to it..." Patamon got up, ready to go, his nanomachines energizing him back to his regular old self. He flew out into the middle of the room, and went to mega. Liquid's patamon answered by taking the form of BlackSeraphimon, and flew out to meet him.

"Have at you, Snake!" Liquid yelled. And then began to fight. The basis of all combat. Hand to hand. Fox was right. Only a fool would trust his life to a weapon. Neat punches and kicks, counters, blocks, combos, flips, ducks. That's the name of the game.

The partners were engaged in a much more eye pleasing spectacle, but the spirit was the same. Just two fighting it out for their lives.

Liquid charged at Snake, he sidestepped and chopped down into his back, only to be caught and flipped over his back. He landed on his feet, however, and tripped Liquid up, sending him to the ground and landing a vicious kick into his face. He jumped back up and went right into a jab that Snake couldn't quite avoid. It was an artform for anyone who could appriciate it.

The two sides of Seraphimon fought with much more visible intensity, Seven Heavens flying back and forth. It was a great battle, even if it only lasted two minutes on both counts.

After two minutes, Snake saw his chance and pushed Liquid off Rex's head. It was quite a fall, one he assumed even Liquid couldn't survive. He didn't even watch him hit the ground, only heard him yelling out his name as he fell. He ran right up to Meryl, checking her vitals.

"Meryl? Meryl?!"

"Uh...Snake?" She was awake. Snake felt his heart lift. "Is that you? You're alive! Snake, thank god!" She hugged him.

"Are you okay?"

"Is that all you can say? It wasn't that bad, really...I didn't give in no matter what."

"You're a strong woman."

"Fighting them made me feel closer to you It gave me the strength to go on. I was scared."

Patamon had taken his rookie form back and, to Snake's great suprise, landed next to Gatomon and began pecking her with his wing. She slowly awoke herself, and Patamon was greatly pleased. Again, to Snake's suprise.

"I was scared, though. But it made me realize something. Through all of that...a single hope kept me alive. I wanted to see you again."

They jumped down off REX's head to the floor. Otacon rang in on the codec.

"Snake, it's me."

"Otacon! Good news! Meryl's okay."

"Alright, good job man. You saved her!"

"There's some bad news though. This place is about to get nuked. Can we get out?"

"Yes...yes I think so. Take the loading tunnel to the surface. See the parking garage right next to you? The tunnel starts there. I just unlocked the security. And I'm dealing with any security there might be on your way out..."

"What about you? What are you going to do?"

"Oh...err...I'll stay here." He managed meekly.

"Are you crazy?!"

"I need more time to take care of the escape route! Only I can do this, this is difficult work."

"But...Otacon..."

"This is my decision. I'm through regretting the past. Life isn't all about loss, you know. I'm a complete person now. I've found a reason to live, and I'm going to. Trust me!"

"Okay. Don't die on me." He cut the connection and turned to Meryl. "Let's get the hell out of here!" He ran towards the garage.

"What about Otacon?" She yelled, grabbing the two digimon, both dead tired.

"He's...he's...fighting for us." He decided on. They ran into the garage and jumped into one of the trucks. Meryl started it and began to drive while Snake took the gun turret on the back. Both Digimon took a seat in the passenger side. A few genome soldiers were trying to get trucks of their own to get out, ignoring them.

They drove down the tunnel, barreling as fast as they could, while Snake shot any other trucks or soldiers in the vicinity. After some time, they thought they were almost there...but then, a truck came up behind them, Liquid driving.

"Snaaake! I'm not through yet!" He yelled, firing a FAMAS with one hand and driving with the other. Snake fired back, to little avail, it was too hard to shoot accurately in this damn bumpy tunnel. The two jeeps crashed into each other several times before Liquid finally came up right beside them. Just as they were about to leave the tunnel into the outside world, Liquid lost control of his truck and swerved right in front of them. Both trucks went flying, landing sprawled and upside down in the snow.

Snake and Meryl both found themselves stuck under it. Both of their partners had passed out, unable to help. They looked up at Liquid's truck, wondering how much it would take for him to die.

"Is he...dead?" Meryl dared to ask.

But it was not to be. Slowly, Liquid stumbled out from behind the truck, holding his FAMAS. He was slowly walking towards them, trying and failing to get out from under the truck.

"Snaaake!" He was screaming, approaching them slowly. "Snnnaaaakkkeee!" He stopped right in front of them, slowly taking aim with his FAMAS. Snake squinted his eyes, waiting for it.

But then he heard an odd scream. He dared a glance up. Liquid had dropped his rifle, and was clutching his chest, retching. He fell to his knees in the snow, spazming.

"Fo...fox..." he was yelling.

"Die." Snake finished for him just as he fell to the snow, dead. He felt his own body, wondering why he wasn't dead as well. It was unmistakable, Liquid had just been killed by FoxDie. And yet, here he was, alive. He didn't want to think about it, so he began focusing his efforts on pushing the truck off of him.

"What happened to the air raid?" Meryl asked as they both pushed up.

"Snake? Can you hear me?" Campbell's tinny voice spoke into his ear.

"Colonel! Are you okay?"

"Yes. The Secretary of Defense has been arrested. Early retirement. I got into contact with the president. Metal Gear, this exercise...it was him acting alone. The orders to bomb the facility have been rescinded. I have complete authority again."

"I see..."

"Server isn't stupid enough to use nukes to cover up some secrets."

"I wonder about that..."

"The danger's over. Thanks, Snake."

"Colonel. Rest easy. Meryl's just fine."

"Really? Thanks...I'm sorry I kept a lot of things from you."

"It's okay, Colonel."

"I'm not a colonel, remember?"

"Right."

"Also, we've got a present for you. Just west of your position, according our satellite photos, there's a snowmobile. This time of year, you should be able to ride right out of there over the glaciers. There's a helicopter waiting for you on Fox Island. I'll bet the boys at the DIA and NSA never expected you to come home alive."

"Me too. Better not show my face around here."

"Don't worry. The official record states you both died after your truck sank into the ocean."

"Not too far from the truth. Dr. Hal Izumi should be inside the facility somewhere. I want someone to bring him in. Are you gonna be okay?"

"I have an insurance policy...a hard copy of all the data of this mission. As long as I've got that, I'll be fine. The batteries on your nanomachines should run out soon...I guess we won't meet again."

"Don't worry. I'll pay you a visit sometime." He smiled, finally lifting the truck off of him and Meryl. "But about FoxDie..."

"Naomi wants to talk to you face to face about that. Well, that won't be possible, but she wants to tell you in person at least."

"Snake...it's me. I heard about my brother..."

"I'm sorry. He had one last message to you." He thought hard. "He told me to tell you to forget about him and to go on with your own life. He also said he'll always love you..."

"Frankie said that?"

"Yeah. Naomi, your brother just saved me, you, and the whole world. He fought with every ounce of strength in his body."

"Maybe...maybe now he's finally found some peace. He wasn't really my brother anymore...ever since he fought with you in Zanzibar he's been like a ghost. A ghost looking for a place to die..."

He looked down on the corpse of Liquid. "Naomi, Liquid died from FoxDie too. What about me? When am I gonna go? I thought we had the same DNA."

He expected some long, medical explanation that he wouldn't understand. But no, it was very simple. "That's up to you. Everyone dies when their time is up..."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...Snake. I don't know. I really don't. I can't explain why you aren't dead yet...the important thing is that your alive. Live, Snake. That's all I can say to you. I've finally realized that...genetic fate isn't all their is to life. At best, it only governs your potential strengths. I've learned that after all these years. You can't be chained to your fate. You can choose the type of life you want to live. Snake, whether or not you were included in FoxDie isn't important...you chose life...now live!" And with that, she cut the convo, leaving Snake to mull over what she had to say. Maybe he'd never know why he lived.

They trekked to the snowmobile, two exhausted partners in tow.

"Until today, I only lived for myself. The only thing I ever cared about. Maybe..." he looked back at Meryl. "I could start to live for somebody else. Maybe that's the real way to live." They boarded the snowmobile. "Someone like you."

"Maybe. So, where to, Snake?"

A long pause. "David. My name is David. I think it's time we look for a new path in life." He revved the engine. "We'll find it, I know we will." They rode off, towards the sunset in the distance.

"I think I'm gonna enjoy this new path...Dave."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ken sat in a secret, re-enforced underground room, cut off from the facility. He was slowly dialing a phone number. Ah, this brung him back. And he loved it just as much this time. He put the earpiece up to his ear. He heard it ring.

"Yes, it's me." He said into the receiver when the person on the other side finally picked up. "Yes sir. The entire unit was wiped out."

A question.

"Those two are still alive."

Another, this one urgent.

"The vector? Yes. FoxDie should become activated soon. Right on schedule."

Another question.

"I recovered all of Rex's dummy warhead data."

Another.

"No sir. My cover is intact. Nobody knows who I really am. Except the DARPA chief, but he's been disposed of."

An eager question.

"Yes. The inferior ones were the winner after all. Liquid and his partner died believing they were the inferior ones. Their defeat is all the more pitiful given they were in fact superior." He chuckled.

A statement of triumph.

"Yes, I agree completely, sir. It takes a well-balanced individual such as yourself to rule the world."

A question.

"No...no one knows that there was a third son of Takeru born...nobody knows of your exsistence, Solidus. What should I do about the woman?"

A response.

"Understood, I'll keep an eye on her." He paused. "Thank you. Good bye...

...President Sears."

He slammed the phone down on the table, relishing in another fantastic undercover mission for the glory of Server gone perfectly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, that's my story. Part Three coming soon! There will be a part four, but it might take a year or two before I can really get started on it, so let's not get too far ahead.

For those of you who read it all the way through, please review!


End file.
